Dollar Climbs To Fresh 2-decade High, Then Pares Gains And Turns Mixed

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar climbed higher on Thursday, extending gains from the previous session after the Federal Reserve raised rates by 75 basis points and signaled more hikes in the coming months to rein in inflation.

In U.S. economic releases today, the Labor Department's report showed initial jobless claims inched up to 213,000 in the week ended September 17th, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level of 208,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to edge up to 218,000 from the 213,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, the Conference Board released a separate report showing its index of leading U.S. economic indicators declined for the sixth consecutive month in August.

The Conference Board said its leading economic index fell by 0.3% in August after sliding by a revised 0.5% in July.

Economists had expected the leading economic index to come in unchanged compared to the 0.4% drop originally reported for the previous month.

The dollar index surged to a fresh two decade high of 111.81 before paring some gains. Still, at 111.31, the index is up as much as 0.6% from the previous close.

Against the Euro, the dollaris up slightly at 0.9837.

The dollar weakened to $1.1363 earlier in the day after the Bank of England raised its policy rate by 50 basis points and predicted a recession in the third quarter of this year.

However, the greenback regained most of the lost ground, and is currently at $1.1254, down just marginally from Wednesday's close of $1.1271.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar has weakened to 142.39 yen from 144.08 yen, after Japan's monetary authorities intervened in the foreign exchange market to boost the battered currency for the first time since 1998.

The dollar is weak against the Aussie at 0.6644, easing from 0.6632.

The Swiss franc has weakened to CHF 0.9771 against the dollar, giving up about 1.1%. The Swiss National Bank hiked its policy rate by 75 basis points, as anticipated. This was the second consecutive rate hike.

"It cannot be ruled out that further increases in the SNB policy rate will be necessary to ensure price stability over the medium term," the bank said in the statement.

To provide appropriate monetary conditions, the SNB is also willing to be active in the foreign exchange market as necessary, the SNB added.

The Canadian currency Loonie is down at C$ 1.3482 a dollar, after having settled at C$ 1.3462 a dollar on Wednesday.