NEW YORK, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar traded mixed against major currencies on Thursday. The dollar rose versus the Japanese yen after a senior Japanese official said although the dollar/yen rate reached 100 it wouldn't be a concern.
Japan's Deputy Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura was quoted by reports as saying that the yen's decline is not over and a dollar/yen level of 100 would not be a concern. Nishimura was also quoted as saying that only if the dollar rises to 110-120 yen would it add to domestic import costs.
Japan's central bank decided Tuesday to double the inflation target to 2 percent and purchase government bonds and other assets without setting a deadline starting from 2014. The dollar broke through the level of 90 versus the yen before the announcement but the rate dropped as the asset-buying plan will only be kicked off next year.
Economic statistics released Thursday indicated generally a solid U.S. economic recovery. In the week ending January 19, the U. S. applications for initially unemployment aid fell to 330,000, the lowest level since January 2008, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Meanwhile, the U.S. manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index flash was at 56.1 for January compared with a final December reading of 54.0. The flash was well above 50 to indicate strong monthly growth.
In late New York trading, the euro climbed to 1.3372 dollars from 1.3320 dollars of the previous session and the British pound slipped to 1.5790 from 1.5844 dollars.
The dollar dropped to 0.9282 Swiss francs from 0.9293 and went up to 1.0030 Canadian dollars from 0.9992. The dollar bought 89.95 Japanese yen, higher than 88.67 in the previous session.
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