NEW YORK, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar rose in late trading on Thursday as investors digested a batch of economic data.
U.S. consumers' spending increased in July, as retail and food services sales rose 0.7 percent to 523.5 billion U.S. dollars, the Commerce Department said on Thursday.
The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits increased more than expected last week. The initial claims increased by 9,000 to reach 220,000 for the week ended Aug. 10, according to the Department of Labor on Thursday.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.14 percent at 98.1484 in late trading.
In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1106 U.S. dollars from 1.1135 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.2110 dollars from 1.2058 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar increased to 0.6775 dollar from 0.6745 dollar.
The U.S. dollar bought 106.12 Japanese yen, higher than 105.89 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar was up to 0.9769 Swiss franc from 0.9735 Swiss franc, and it was up to 1.3323 Canadian dollars from 1.3322 Canadian dollars.
