benefits dropped to a three-month low last week while layoffs fell 43% in December, data on Thursday showed.
Against a basket of currencies, the U.S. dollar index rose 0.2% to 105.3, having briefly touched a four-week peak of 105.36."Strong labour market data means the narrative that the Fed can keep hiking interest rates is alive," said Giles Coghlan, chief market analyst at HYCM.Most major currencies were nursing losses on Friday, after the surging greenback knocked them to multi-week lows in the previous session.
Against the Japanese yen , the dollar climbed 0.7% to hit 134.45 yen, its highest level in over a week.