NEW YORK: The dollar recovered after three days of losses on Thursday, further boosted by strong U.S. retail sales numbers and declining jobless claims, suggesting the world's largest economy remained on track for an interest rate hike next year.
The greenback was on the road to recovery anyway after being sold off the last few days, and the upbeat data only reinforced the currency's positive momentum.
Data on Thursday showed that retail sales excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services increased 0.6 percent last month after rising 0.5 percent in October.
A separate report showed continued improvement in the jobs market: New jobless claims fell last week to below 300,000.
"The numbers just confirm what we expect all along: that the U.S. economy will continue to outperform the rest of the world," said Sireen Haraji, currency strategist at Mizuho in New York. "That would be in line with the Federal Reserve normalizing rates next year."
In midmorning trading, the dollar rose 1.1 percent to 119.12 yen after touching a two-week low near 117.45 yen earlier on Thursday. The greenback had fallen three straight days after hitting a seven-year peak on Monday.
"That fall in dollar/yen from overbought territory really triggered the sell-off in the dollar across the board," said Richard Franulovich, senior currency strategist, at Westpac in New York.
The euro fell 0.5 percent to $1.2387, as dollar buying spread. Greece has been on the radar once again, acting as a cap on any euro rally.
Greek yields bucked the downward trend in euro zone bond yields, with shorter-term yields remaining above longer-term on investor concerns that fresh political upheaval could drive Athens toward another default.
The euro also weakened after the European Central Bank said banks had taken just 129 billion euros in the second tranche of its targeted long-term loans, keeping pressure on the bank to ease policy more dramatically in the new year.
The euro's losses pushed the dollar index, which tracks the greenback's performance against a basket of currencies, up 0.4 percent to 88.638.
In other currencies, Norway's crown sank against the euro after a slump in oil prices and low demand provoked its central bank into an early, unexpected cut in interest rates, driving the crown to its weakest since mid-2009.
The euro was last up 1 percent on the day at 9.0034 crowns .
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