1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar falls amid mixed data

The U.S. dollar dropped against most major currencies Thursday as data from the country came out mixed, triggering debates over whether the Federal Reserve should raise interest rate this month.

The U.S. Labor Department said Thursday that in the week ending Sept. 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 275,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level but in line with the market consensus.

The Department said in a separate report, which was seen as a critical inflation reading, that U.S. import prices declined 1.8 percent in August due to falling oil prices and a rising dollar, logging their biggest drop in seven months.

Analysts said the two reports indicated a strong labor market and relatively low inflation level, respectively, sending contrary signals about whether the central bank would raise interest rates in its policy meeting next week.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.58 percent at 95.451 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1284 dollars from 1.1198 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.5470 dollars from 1.5365 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar moved up to 0.7085 U.S. dollar from 0.7017 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 120.68 Japanese yen, higher than 120.56 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar dived to 0.9716 Swiss franc from 0.9745 Swiss franc and decreased to 1.3199 Canadian dollars from 1.3245 Canadian dollars. Endit