Dollar Climbs Higher After Buoyant Jobs Data
(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar firmed against its major counterparts on Friday amid fading hopes of further reductions in interest rates after data from the Labor Department showed stronger-than-expected growth in non-farm payroll employment in the month of December.
Data from the Labor Department showed U.S. non-farm payroll employment surged by 256,000 in December, after jumping by a downwardly revised 212,000 jobs in November.
Economists had expected employment to climb by 160,000 jobs compared to the addition of 227,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
The unemployment rate in the U.S. edged down to 4.1% in December from 4.2% in November. The rate was expected to come in unchanged.
Preliminary data from the Univesity of Michigan said consumer sentiment in the U.S. has unexpectedly seen a modest deterioration in the month of January, The report said the consumer sentiment index edged down to 73.2 in January from 74.0 in December. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 74.5.
The dollar index, which surged to 109.97, pared some gains subsequently, but still remained firm at 109.65, about 0.45% up from previous close.
Against the Euro, the dollar strengthened to 1.0263 from 1.0302, and against Pound Sterling, it firmed to 1.2205 from 1.2307.
The dollar weakened against the Japanese currency, dropping to 157.70 yen a unit, from previous closing value of 158.14 yen. Against the Aussie, the dollar firmed to 0.6146.
The Swiss franc weakened to 0.9165 against the dollar, while the Loonie weakened to 1.4433 a unit of the greenback.
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