LONDON, Sept 26: The euro slipped against the dollar in late trade on Thursday following the release of better-than-expected US weekly jobless claims and durable goods data, dealers said.

The single European currency edged down to 0.9757 dollars from 0.9763 late on Wednesday in New York.

The dollar eased to 122.62 yen from 122.89 on Wednesday.

Large orders also weighed on the single currency in a market which lacked liquidity, dealers added. They noted that an equities rally on the back of the US figures had failed to lift the single currency.

US claims for unemployment benefits fell 24,000 for the week ended September 21, the US Labour Department said Thursday, far more than forecasts of a drop of 7,000.

Meanwhile, durable goods orders slid 0.6 percent in August from July, the US Commerce Department said, lower than the 2.9 percent drop analysts had anticipated.

On the forex front, “there’s been a battle between two large orders, one to sell euros and the other to buy euros, which has made for volatility in a market where nothing much was happening,” Halifax head of currency strategy Steven Pearson said.

The euro touched a low of 0.9720 dollars and a high of 0.9810 within a short period of time, dealers said.

Earlier in the day, analysts had said the market would be keeping an eye on any reaction from the European Central Bank to Tuesday’s surprise proposal by the European Commission that the deadline for euro-zone countries to balance their budgets should be delayed by two years to 2006.

“I would have thought they would be pretty miffed about it,” 4CAST analyst Paul Bednarczyk said.

The dollar edged lower against the yen despite mounting scepticism that the Japanese government would try to tackle the problem of non-performing loans in the banking sector when it announces a new package of measures next month.

“Any further evidence of credible policy initiatives would in theory be yen-positive,” said Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi economist Derek Halpenny.

But he added that the market was aware radical policy initiatives would increase the possibility the government could intervene aggressively to weaken the yen without facing disapproval from the international community.

The euro was changing hands at 0.9757 dollars against 0.9763 late on Wednesday in New York, 119.63 yen from 119.96, 0.6271 pounds (0.6269) and 1.4682 Swiss francs (1.4637).

The dollar was being quoted at 122.62 yen (122.89) and 1.5048 Swiss francs (1.4993).

The pound was at 1.5659 dollars (1.5563), 190.78 yen (191.30) and 2.3413 Swiss francs (2.3339).

On the London bullion market, the price of an ounce of gold fell to $319.60 from $325.35 late on Wednesday.—AFP