1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises on upbeat data

The U.S. dollar climbed against most major currencies Thursday as the better-than-expected retail sales data from the country boosted market sentiment for an interest-rate hike in September.

The Commerce Department announced Thursday that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for July were 446. 5 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 0.6 percent from the previous month, beating market consensus of a 0.5-gain.

The greenback was also supported by the statement of the People 's Bank of China (PBOC) and the slowdown of the Chinese currency RMB's declines.

According to the PBOC, the Chinese central bank, the RMB will remain strong in the long run with no basis for persistent and substantial depreciation.

Analysts said the statement eased investors' concerns and shifted market's focus back to the rate hike in September.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was up 0.25 percent at 96.498 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1135 dollars from 1.1162 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.5612 dollars from 1.5608 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar dropped to 0.7359 dollar from 0. 7374 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 124.45 Japanese yen, higher than 124.22 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.9770 Swiss franc from 0.9743 Swiss franc, and it inched up to 1.3070 Canadian dollars from 1.2994 Canadian dollars. Endite