The U.S. dollar fell slightly against a basket of major currencies during Thursday's trading, ahead of US unemployment claims figures, in addition to investor’s hopes that the Covid-19 would retreat from the current peak.

As of 08:23 GMT, the U.S dollar index, which measures the performance of six major currencies against the greenback, traded at 100.09, noting that the lowest level recording during the session was at 99.99.

Eyes will focus on US unemployment claims scheduled to be released later in the day, with expectations of a rise of about five million requests in the week ended April 4, which will be lower than the previous week’s reading of 6.65 million.

The awaited weekly jobless claims would give an update about the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the U.S. labor market.

In the same vein, the Fed said in the minutes of its last meeting that the interest rate will remain near zero until the end of the Corona crisis, explaining the negative impact of the virus on the economic outlook.

The US economic outlook in the near term has deteriorated sharply in recent weeks and has become largely uncertain, the minutes noted.

Later in the day, Fed’s Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak about the current state of the economy, and the Fed's response to the crisis at the Hutchins Center in Brookings in an online discussion.

According to a map from Johns Hopkins University, more than 430,000 people are infected with the deadly virus in the United States and have claimed nearly 14,800 lives in the country.

US Stocks gain

U.S. stock indexes rose at the close of Wednesday’s trading session, with the Dow Jones industrial climbing by about 780 points, amid hopes of a slowdown in the number of corona infections and increased fiscal stimulus.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.4 percent to 23,433 points, the S&P 500 surged 3.4 percent to 2,749 points and the Nasdaq edged up 2.6 percent to 8,090.