Dollar edges higher after positive economic data

The dollar rose against most of its peers on Thursday, after the release of upbeat economic data, amid focus on Omicron variant.

The US House of Representatives voted to raise the debt ceiling to prevent any government shutdown.

The US Department of Labor revealed that the number of initial unemployment claims fell to 222K last week from 194K in the previous reading, bearing than forecasts of 238K.

The markets continue to focus on Omicron developments after the US health authorities reported today the first case of the Omicron variant in California yesterday

India today also reported its first case, Netherlands and Norway reported dozens of Omicron cases, while the UK reported 7 cases.

The dollar index rose against a basket of major currencies by less than 0.1% to 96.07 points as of 17:33 GMT, after hitting a high of 96.1 points and a low of 95.8 points.