Dollar Falls on Greece Optimism

NEW YORK, Mar.9 -- The U.S. dollar fell against most major currencies in late New York trading on Thursday as optimism over Greece helped to lift the euro.

Greece said more than 75 percent of its private creditors have already agreed to participate in the debt swap deal, easing investors'concerns that a chaotic default may occur. The swap deal is a critical part for the country to receive second round of bailouts from international organizations. The results will be announced on Friday.

The euro surged more than 1 percent against the dollar as investors expected that Greece can successfully avoid a default.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Labor Department report that initial jobless claims increased by 8,000 to 362,000 last week, the highest level in five weeks. However, the figure still remained in a good-shape range. The dollar dropped on Thursday as risk- aversion appetite faded in markets.

In late Thursday trading, the dollar bought 81.60 Japanese yen, comparing with 81.19 from late Wednesday. The euro rose to 1.3270 dollars from 1.3150.

The British pound also rose to 1.5825 dollars from 1.5739. The dollar fell from 0.9166 Swiss francs to 0.9087, and also fell to 0. 9899 Canadian dollars from 0.9987.