1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar falls on downbeat data

The U.S. dollar declined against most major currencies on Thursday as the country's economic data for durable goods orders came out worse than expected.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday that new orders for manufactured durable goods in December decreased 12.0 billion dollars or 5.1 percent to 225.4 billion, well below market consensus.

Analysts said the soft reading in durable goods orders raised concerns of a U.S. economic slowdown due to weaker global demand.

Investors will look into the closely-watched U.S. gross domestic product report scheduled to release on Friday to get more clues of the country's economic situation.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.42 percent at 98.490 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0958 dollars from 1.0900 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.4370 dollars from 1.4255 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar inched up to 0.7077 dollar from 0.7035 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 118.78 Japanese yen, higher than 118.70 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar declined to 1.0133 Swiss franc from 1.0141 Swiss franc, and it decreased to 1.4061 Canadian dollars from 1.4119 Canadian dollars. Endit