Dollar pares initial gains on rise in U.S. stocks

The greenback pared intra-day gains made in Asia and European morning and ended Thursday mixed due to profit-taking as well as improved risk sentiment in New York as U.S. stocks snapped their recent losing streak and ended the day higher.  
  
Reuters reported U.S. initial claims for state unemployment benefits totaled a seasonally adjusted 870,000 for the week ended Sept. 19, compared to 866,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 840,000 applications in the latest week.   
  
Versus the Japanese yen, although dollar rebounded to 105.47 in Asian morning, price met renewed selling and fell to 105.21 in European morning on cross-buying in jpy before rising to an 8-day high of 105.52 on usd's strength but only to retreat again to 105.33 at New York open and then swung broadly sideways.  
  
Although the single currency rebounded to 1.1680 in Asian morning, price fell to 1.1645 before rebounding to 1.1673 in European morning but only to fall to a fresh 8-week low at 1.1627 at New York open on usd's strength as well as cross-selling in euro. Later, the pair staged a strong short-covering rebound to 1.1687.  
  
Reuters reported the Ifo institute said its business climate index rose to 93.4 from a downwardly revised 92.5 in August. This was the highest reading since February when the index stood at 95.9.   
  
The British pound rebounded to 1.2739 in Asian morning and despite falling to 1.2691 at European open, cable erased intra-day losses and rallied to session highs of 1.2781 on cross-buying in sterling before retreating to 1.2708 in New York. The pair then recovered to 1.2773 and traded at 1.2749 near the close.  
  
Reuters reported British finance minister Rishi Sunak announced a new jobs support scheme on Thursday that would help firms employ people on shorter hours, but warned he could not save every business or job.     
Sunak said the scheme would run for six months, starting in November and be open to all small and medium sized enterprises. Larger firms would only be eligible if their turnover has fallen during the crisis.  
  
In other news, Reuters then reported there is a window of several weeks for Britain and the European Union to reach a breakthrough in trade talks before Britain's upper house of parliament considers the contentious Internal Market Bill, Ireland's foreign minister said on Thursday.  
  
Data to be released on Friday :  
  
UK GfK consumer confidence, PSNB, PSNCR, Italy manufacturing business confidence, consumer confidence, U.S. durable goods, durables ex-transportation, durables ex-defense, and Canada budget balance.