• The dollar edged up in Asian trading on Friday but was on track for a losing month against a basket of currencies, while the euro shed some of its monthly gains after the European Central Bank maintained its easing bias. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, edged up 0.1 percent to 99.193 .DXY, but down 0.8 percent for the week and 1.2 percent for April.
The euro was down 0.1 percent at $1.0865 EUR=, but up 1.3 percent for the week and 2 percent for the month.
Against its Japanese counterpart, the dollar was steady on the day at 111.30 yen JPY=, up 2 percent for the week but still down 0.1 percent for the month.
• ECB chief Mario Draghi said on Thursday after the central bank's policy meeting that removal of the bank's easing bias was not discussed, stressing the barriers the ECB still faces before beginning to tighten its ultra-loose financing conditions. However, he also said that euro zone's recovery was increasingly solid and downside risks had diminished.
• The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, but the four-week average of claims fell to a two-month low, indicating that labor market conditions continue to tighten.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 257,000 for the week ended April 22, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Data for the prior week was revised to show 1,000 fewer applications received than previously reported.
Claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labor market, for 112 straight weeks. That is the longest such stretch since 1970, when the labor market was smaller.
• The United States issued about 40 percent fewer temporary visas in March to citizens of seven countries covered by President Donald Trump's temporary travel bans than it did in an average month last year, according to a Reuters analysis of preliminary government data released on Thursday.
• China has told the Trump administration it warned North Korea it would impose unilateral sanctions should Pyongyang carry out another nuclear test, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday.
• Crude prices were slightly lower after a volatile session on Thursday, as the restart of two key Libyan oilfields and concerns about lackluster gasoline demand fed concern over whether major oil producers can alleviate the glut of global inventories. Brent crude LCOc1 settled down 14 cents a barrel at $51.68. U.S. light crude CLc1 was down 37 cents to $49.25 a barrel.
• Libya's Sharara and El Feel oilfields, which can produce nearly 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), returned to production after protests blocking pipelines ended.
Reference: Reuters
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