Dollar rises against most major currencies

NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Xinhua) -- The dollar rose against most major currencies on Thursday as worries over debt problems of Greece and Portugal boosted safety-haven demand for the U.S. currency.

The French newspaper Le Monde reported that European Union member states are examining ways to provide financial support to Greece. But the German and French governments denied the report on Thursday. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said his country didn't need a loan from the EU.

Greece's public deficit is tipped to reach 12.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009, far above the EU's accepted ceiling of 3 percent. Some major rating agencies have already cut their ratings for Greece's sovereign debt.

Portugal's budget deficit hit a record 9.3 percent of GDP in 2009, exceeding European Union and International Monetary Fund estimates of around 8 percent. Portugal needs deeper deficit cuts than included in its 2010 budget to tame rising debt and avoid a downgrade of its credit rating, Moody's Investors Service said.

New orders for durable goods rose by 0.3 percent in December, the U.S. Commerce Department reported. The growth is smaller than expected. However, orders for core nondefense capital goods (excluding aircraft) moved up by a solid 1.3 percent. Machinery orders leapt by 6.0 percent and motor vehicle orders jumped by 3.6 percent.

Initial claims for jobless benefits fell slightly to 470,000 last week, according to the Labor Department. The four-week moving average for initial claims rose to 456,000, the first back-to-back increase in the four-week average since mid-August 2009.

The weaker-than-expected report suggests that the backlog of claims that built up over the holiday season persisted and may continue for a few more weeks, analysts said. The labor market is still in track of gradual improvement.

The euro bought 1.3978 dollars in late New York trading compared with 1.4038 dollars it bought late Wednesday. The pound fell to 1.6127 dollars from 1.6179 dollars.

The dollar fell to 1.0651 Canadian dollars from 1.0659 Canadian dollars, and fell to 1.0514 Swiss francs from 1.0492 Swiss francs. It was unchanged at 89.90 Japanese yen.