U.S. dollar ticks up amid upbeat data

The U.S. dollar gained against most other major currencies on Thursday as investors digested a batch of positive economic reports.

U.S. private sector employment increased by 172,000 jobs from May to June, more than market expectation of 159,000, said the June ADP National Employment Report Thursday.

The ADP figure is watched closely as a pre-indicator for the highly-anticipated nonfarm payrolls report due Friday.

Meanwhile, in the week ending July 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims decreased of 16,000 from the previous week's revised level to 254,000, below market consensus, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.25 percent at 96.291 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1055 dollars from 1.1104 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound declined to 1.2900 dollars from 1.2922 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.7477 dollar from 0.7517 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 100.76 Japanese yen, lower than 101.39 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.9790 Swiss franc from 0.9743 Swiss franc, and it climbed to 1.3017 Canadian dollars from 1.2956 Canadian dollars. Enditem