New York, Jul 19 (IANS): The US dollar declined against its major rivals as market participants digested a slew of downbeat data.

In late New York trading on Thursday, the euro increased to $1.1266 from $1.1222 in the previous session, and the British pound rose to $1.2538 from $1.2436 in the previous session, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Australian dollar was up to $0.7066 from $0.7015.

The US dollar bought 107.51 Japanese yen, lower than 108.09 Japanese yen of the previous session. The US dollar fell to 0.9832 Swiss franc from 0.9870 Swiss franc, and it was up to 1.3045 Canadian dollars from 1.3041 Canadian dollars.

US initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, registered 216,000 in the week ending July 13, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level, the Department of Labor said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the US leading economic index (LEI) declined 0.3 per cent in June to 111.5, indicating a slowing growth of the economy, according to the latest report released by The Conference Board.

The LEI is a weighted gauge of 10 indicators designed to signal peaks and troughs in the business cycle.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.44 per cent at 96.8041 in late trading.