Investing.com - The dollar edged lower against against the other major currencies on Monday, as trading was expected to remain quite with U.S. markets closed for the Labor Day holiday.
The dollar was higher against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.26% at 119.32.
The Labor Department reported on Friday that the U.S. economy added 173,000 jobs last month, slowing after an upwardly revised gain of 245,000 in July. It was the smallest increase in employment in five months and was below expectations for 220,000.
The unemployment rate ticked down to 5.1%, its lowest level since April 2008 from 5.3% in July, while average hourly wages rose by a stronger-than-expected 2.2%.
The jobs report failed to provide much clarity on when the U.S. central bank will decide to raise short term interest rates.
The dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD up 0.14% at 1.1167.
The euro remained supported after the European Central Bank indicated last week that it could scale up its quantitative easing program amid increased risk to the region’s inflation outlook from slowing growth in China and falling oil prices.
ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank’s asset purchase program provided sufficient flexibility to adjust the size, composition and duration of the program.
The ECB launched its €60 billion per month quantitative easing program in March after the euro area briefly slid into deflation and it is due to run until September 2016.
The dollar was lower against the pound, with GBP/USD climbing 0.68% to 1.5274 but higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF adding 0.11% to 0.9724.
The Australian dollar was higher, with AUD/USD advancing 0.40% to 0.6936, while NZD/USD slid 0.45% to 0.6259.
Data earlier showed that job advertisements in Australia increased by 1.0% last month after a 0.5% slip in July, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 0.4% fall.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD held steady at 1.3285.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.13% at 96.13.