The US dollar declined in late trading on Thursday as investors digested key economic data.

US initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, stood at 2,16,000 in the week ending February 29, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, the Department of Labor reported Thursday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.52 per cent at 96.8377 in late trading, the Xinhua news agency reported.

In late New York trading, the euro increased to $1.1199 from $1.1139 in the previous session, and the British pound was up to $1.2945 from $1.2868 in the previous session. The Australian dollar fell to $0.6591 from $0.6614.

The US dollar bought 106.39 Japanese yen, lower than 107.34 Japanese yen of the previous session. The US dollar decreased to 0.9486 Swiss franc from 0.9560 Swiss franc, and it was up to 1.3427 Canadian dollars from 1.3402 Canadian dollars.