NEW YORK: The dollar fell against the euro on Thursday, a day before the US government reports job creation and unemployment data for November, data key to the pace of Federal Reserve stimulus. The euro bought $1.3666 around 2200 GMT, up from $1.3591 at the same time Wednesday. Earlier the European currency hit $1.3677, its highest peak since late October. The dollar also fell against the Japanese currency, to 101.77 yen from 102.32 yen, while the euro was essentially unchanged, up a hair at 139.08 yen from 139.06. The weakness in the dollar came after better-than-expected US data added to a mixed picture of the US economy. The Commerce Department revised sharply higher US economic growth in the third quarter, to an annual rate of 3.6 percent from an initial estimate of 2.8 percent, led by a big increase in inventory investment. First-time claims for unemployment benefits, a sign of the pace of layoffs, fell below 300,000 last week, the Labour Department reported. "The price action in the dollar today suggests that investors are looking forward to Friday's (jobs) release" and future data on fourth-quarter economic growth, said Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management. "While jobless claims fell sharply and US GDP growth was revised higher, the greenback failed to hold onto its initial gains as investors immediately interpreted the rise in inventories to mean that Q4 GDP growth could be even weaker than most economists had anticipated," she said. Analysts on average expect US job growth slowed last month to 188,000 from 204,000 in October, and the unemployment rate will dip a tenth point to 7.2 percent. The dollar fell to 0.8966 Swiss franc from 0.9024 franc late Wednesday. But it strengthened against the British pound, which fell to $1.6333 from $1.6381.

Source