NEW YORK, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar traded higher against most of other major currencies in late trading on Thursday as Treasury yields rose sharply in recent days after solid economic data.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed over 3.11 percent on Thursday, the first time since 2011, while the two-year yield hovered around its highest levels in a decade.

The yield, a barometer for mortgage rates and other financial instruments, has jumped recently amid market fears of rising inflation, which sparked investors' speculation about more rate hikes later this year.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.07 percent at 93.462 in late trading.

On the economic front, in the week ending May 12, new applications for U.S. jobless benefits stood at a seasonally adjusted 222,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 211,000, the Labor Department announced Thursday.

Meanwhile, manufacturing firms reported an improvement in regional manufacturing conditions in May, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Business Outlook Survey Thursday.

The index for current manufacturing activity in the region increased 11 points to a reading of 34.4, beating the market expectations of 21.0.

In late New York trading, the euro was down to 1.1799 dollars from 1.1802 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was up to 1.3508 dollars from 1.3482 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar fell to 0.7509 dollar from 0.7515 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 110.74 Japanese yen, higher than 110.26 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar was unchanged at close to 1.0013 Swiss franc from 1.0013 Swiss franc, and it was up to 1.2797 Canadian dollars from 1.2791 Canadian dollars.