Investing.com - The dollar pushed higher on Monday, after falling to three-week lows against a basket of currencies on Friday as a weaker than expected U.S. jobs report eroded market expectations for a near term interest rate increase.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.2% to 94.11 after falling 1.74% on Friday to lows of 93.9, the weakest level since May 12.
USD/JPY was up 0.6% at 107.15, pulling back from Friday’s lows of 106.50.
Data on Friday showed that the U.S. economy added just 38,000 jobs last month, the smallest increase since September 2010.
Economists had forecast that payrolls would increase by 164,000.
April’s number was revised down to 123,000 from an earlier estimate of 160,000.
The unemployment rate fell to 4.7% from 5% in April as more people dropped out of the labor force.
The weak data prompted investors to rule out a June rate hike and sparked renewed concerns over slowing global growth.
The dollar had risen strongly against the other major currencies in May after Fed Chair Janet Yellen and other central bank officials indicated that the economy was on a strong enough footing to support higher interest rates.
Higher rates are positive for the dollar because they make the U.S. currency more attractive to yield-seeking investors.
Investors were looking ahead to a speech by Janet Yellen later in the day for fresh clues on the future direction of interest rates.
The euro was steady, with EUR/USD at 1.1355, not far from Friday’s three-week highs of 1.1372.
Sterling was broadly weaker, with GBP/USD down 0.59% at 1.4434 and EUR/GBP advancing 0.45% to 0.7864.
Sentiment on the pound was hit after an opinion poll published in the Daily Telegraph newspaper showed that a majority are going to vote for a Brexit in the June 23 referendum.