By Saumya Vaishampayan, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The U.S. dollar inched higher against most rivals Thursday after labor-market data were broadly consistent with steady economic growth. The jobless claims and private-sector jobs readings came as investors look ahead to Friday’s nonfarm-payrolls report, the last before the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, for clues on when the central bank could begin to pare back the rate of its bond buying. Jobless claims for the week ended Aug. 31 fell by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 323,000, beating economist expectations of a decline to 330,000 in the seven-day period. Initial claims were near a five-year low. The private sector added 176,000 jobs in August, the smallest increase since May, compared with expectations of 185,000 additional jobs, according to a poll by MarketWatch. Still, the three-month moving average rose to 188,000 last month from 140,000 in May. The data, provided by ADP, tend to track U.S. Labor Department readings in the long run but aren’t always the most accurate indicator for the jobs report on a monthly basis. The monthly Labor Department report is due Friday with expectations of a 170,000-job increase in August and an unchanged jobless rate of 7.4%. The ICE dollar index DXY +0.25% , a gauge of the greenback’s strength against six rivals, edged higher to 82.382 from 82.143 late Wednesday. The WSJ Dollar Index XX:BUXX +0.35% , which tracks it against a wider basket, rose to 74.51 from 74.34. Yields on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note hit a two-year high Thursday, providing some support for the dollar. The Fed currently buys $85 billion in mortgage and Treasury debt as part of its efforts to revive the U.S. economy. The central bank is widely expected to slow these purchases this year, with many market participants betting on a change at the Fed’s September meeting. An increase of more than 160,000 jobs in August could push the Fed to announce plans for tapering at the September meeting, driving dollar strength, said Camilla Sutton, chief foreign-exchange strategist at Scotiabank, in a research note. Several central banks kept monetary policy steady on Thursday. The European Central Bank left its benchmark rate at 0.5%. In remarks in Frankfurt, ECB President Mario Draghi said interest rates should remain low “for an extended period of time� and that downside risks still exist. The euro EURUSD -0.43% traded at $1.3165, lower than $1.3210 the prior day. Follow updates from the ECB press conference here. The Bank of England made no change to its bond-buying program and maintained its key lending rate at 0.5%, where it is likely to remain until the jobless rate falls below 7%. The pound GBPUSD -0.15% fell to $1.5617 from $1.5628 late Wednesday. The Bank of Japan similarly kept its asset purchases unchanged, adding that the economy is “recovering modestly.� The dollar USDJPY +0.30% rose to 99.82 Japanese yen from 99.75 yen the prior day. The Australian dollar AUDUSD -0.30% ended its three-session win streak against the dollar, buying 91.38 U.S. cents in recent trade compared with 91.76 U.S. cents late Wednesday. The Indian rupee gained on Thursday, with the dollar USDINR -0.01% buying 66.32 rupees from 67.09 rupees the prior day. The dollar has surged nearly 21% against the rupee in 2013 to date, according to FactSet data. Raghuram Rajan, the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India, detailed plans to fight the rupee’s decline in his first speech as the head of the central bank. Saumya Vaishampayan is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York. You can find her on Twitter @saumvaish.

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