NEW YORK, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar stayed nearly flat in late trading on Thursday, as the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased to a three-month high last week.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.04 percent to 104.3490 in late trading.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 231,000 for the week ending Nov. 11, the highest since August, according to a report from the Labor Department on Thursday.

Unadjusted claims increased 1,713 to 215,874 last week, suggesting that the labor market was gradually cooling in another boost to the Federal Reserve's fight against inflation.

"Further modest progress has been made towards lowering inflation and rebalancing the labor market," said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital in New York. "We have reservations about the seasonal factors, which may have been distorted by claims during the COVID-19 period."

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Fed said Thursday its gauge of regional business activity improved slightly to negative 5.9 in November from negative 9 in the prior month.

In late New York trading, the euro grew to 1.0856 U.S. dollars from 1.0846 U.S. dollars in the previous session, and the British pound dipped to 1.2416 U.S. dollars from 1.2418 U.S. dollars.

The U.S. dollar rose to 1.3762 Canadian dollars from 1.3685 Canadian dollars, as Western Texas Intermediate traded lower near 76.20 U.S. dollars per barrel during the Asian session on Thursday, extending the losses for the third successive day.

The U.S. dollar bought 150.5960 Japanese yen, lower than 151.3750 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.8885 Swiss francs from 0.8883 Swiss francs, and it climbed to 10.5805 Swedish krona from 10.5331 Swedish krona.