The euro rose to $1.3772 around 2115 GMT, down from $1.3754 at 2100 GMT Wednesday.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar fell to 76.78 yen from 76.80 late Wednesday.

David Gilmore, a trader at Foreign Exchange Analytics, said the market reacted to an announcement by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy that they would meet Saturday before the EU summit Sunday.

The French presidency indicated a Franco-German plan would be adopted at a second summit, by Wednesday.

The market's renewed optimism probably would be short-lived, Gilmore said.

The news "doesn't necessarily change the landscape in the near term," he said, noting the European leaders' history how they have responded to the crisis "is not necessarily sufficient."

In the United States, a series of slightly better economic data helped to underpin the dollar.

A fall in weekly jobless claims confirmed a downward trend since early April, and a surge in the regional economic index of the Philadelphia branch of the Federal Reserve showed better than expected activity in manufacturing.

Existing-home sales fell 3.0 percent in September, but that was in line with forecasts.

"There has been a very consistent trend in US data over the past few weeks that we find encouraging. None of the reports are in line with a rapid expansion or recovery in the economy but they point to the possibility of stabilization," said Kathy Lien at GFT.

The dollar fell to 0.8939 Swiss francs from 0.9028 late Wednesday.

It also weakened against the British currency, which fetched $1.5790 compared with $1.5767 the prior day.