U.S. Dollar Drops As Nonfarm Payrolls Miss Estimates

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar was lower against its major counterparts in the New York session on Friday, as softer-than-expected jobs data for June eased concerns about the rate outlook.

Data from the Labor Department showed that U.S. employment increased less than expected in June.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 209,000 jobs in June after surging by a downwardly revised 306,000 in May.

Economists had expected employment to shoot up by 225,000 jobs compared to the spike of 339,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The unemployment rate edged down to 3.6 percent in June from 3.7 percent in May, in line with economist estimates.

Although the Federal Reserve is still widely expected to raise interest rates by another quarter point later this month, the data renewed hopes that will be the end of the central bank's rate-hiking cycle.

The benchmark yield on the 10-year note fell to 4.02 percent. Yields move inversely to bond prices.

The greenback fell to an 11-day low of 0.8920 against the franc and a 4-day low of 1.0931 against the euro, from its previous close of 0.8951 and 1.0887, respectively. The greenback is seen finding support around 0.88 against the franc and 1.12 against the euro.

The greenback dropped to fresh 2-week lows of 1.2808 against the pound and 142.57 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.2739 and 144.06, respectively. The greenback may face support around 1.31 against the pound and 139.00 against the yen.

The greenback declined to 1.3317 against the loonie, from a fresh 4-week high of 1.3386 seen at 4 am ET. The pair had closed Thursday's deals at 1.3366. If the greenback falls further, 1.30 is possibly seen as its next support level.

The greenback edged down to 0.6675 against the aussie and 0.6204 against the kiwi, from yesterday's closing values of 0.6624 and 0.6156, respectively. The greenback is likely to challenge support around 0.68 against the aussie and 0.64 against the kiwi.