NEW YORK, May 19 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar fell broadly against its major rivals in late trading on Thursday.

       The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, decreased 1.05 percent to 102.7240.

       In late New York trading, the euro increased to 1.0603 U.S. dollars from 1.0479 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.2501 U.S. dollars from 1.2346 dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar was up to 0.7063 U.S. dollars from 0.6967 U.S. dollars.

       The U.S. dollar bought 127.74 Japanese yen, lower than 128.12 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar decreased to 0.9705 Swiss franc from 0.9877 Swiss franc, and it was down to 1.2800 Canadian dollars from 1.2873 Canadian dollars.

       On the data front, U.S. initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, rose by 21,000 to 218,000 in the week ending May 14, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast initial jobless claims to total 200,000.