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Dollar little changed

NEW YORK: The dollar was little changed at a quiet midday on Thursday after trading water in narrow ranges ahead of Friday's long-awaited release of March U.S. payroll numbers.

The U.S. currency opened mixed and spent the morning languishing in ranges of 1.4780-1.4814 marks and 106.85-107.10 yen, similar to ranges seen overnight.

The market shrugged off news that initial U.S. jobless claims in the week ended March 30 fell to 408,000 against a revised 433,000 in the week ended March 23.

Traders are gearing up for a thin Friday market due to the Easter holiday in Europe and the absence of many U.S. dealers.

At midday, the dollar was unchanged against the mark at 1.4800/10. It was steady against the yen at 107.03/13 against an opening rate of 107.02/07 yen.

The market is expected to be thin tomorrow, with Europe off for the long Easter weekend and U.S. traders making an appearance only for the release of March U.S. jobs data at 0830 EST/1330 GMT, if they come to work at all.

"Any type of reaction would be more a by-product of a lack of liquidity than from the number itself", he added.

The dollar has good support at 1.4770 marks and 106.80 yen, and faces near-term resistance at 1.4830 and 107.20, traders said.

In other trading, the dollar fell against the Swiss franc to 1.1930/40 against 1.1975/80. It was Canadian $1.3577/82 against C$1.3567/72.

Sterling was firmer at $1.5290/00 against $1.5255/60.-Reuter