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

The U.S. dollar decreased against most major currencies on Thursday as economic data from the country came out negative overall.

In the week ending Feb. 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 278,000, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's unrevised level and higher than market estimates, according to the U.S. Labor Department Thursday.

The U.S. non-manufacturing index registered 53.4 percent in February, 0.1 percentage points lower than the January reading of 53.5 percent, the Institute Supply Management (ISM) reported Thursday.

Meanwhile, investors were awaiting the closely-watched U.S. non-farm payrolls report due Friday to get a more comprehensive view of the country's labor market.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.66 percent at 97.566 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0955 dollars from 1.0866 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.4165 dollars from 1.4076 dollars. The Australian dollar went up to 0.7356 dollar from 0.7295 dollar.

The dollar bought 113.62 Japanese yen, higher than 113.46 yen of the previous session. The greenback declined to 0.9910 Swiss franc from 0.9965 Swiss franc, and inched down to 1.3404 Canadian dollars from 1.3435 Canadian dollars. Enditem