Investing.com - The dollar slid lower against the euro and the yen on Monday, pulling away from highs hit in the wake of Friday’s robust U.S. jobs data as concerns over Greece’s debt negotiations clouded market sentiment.
EUR/USD was up 0.19% to 1.1337, recovering from lows of 1.1294, while USD/JPY dipped 0.12% to 118.97, off one-month highs of 119.21.
The dollar rallied after data on Friday showed that the U.S. economy added 257,000 jobs in January, far more than the 234,000 forecast by economists. December’s figure was revised to 329,000 from a previously reported 252,000.
While the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7% last month from December’s 5.6% hourly earnings and the participation rate both saw increases in January.
The upbeat jobs report reinforced expectations for a mid-year rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
Market sentiment was hit by renewed concerns over Greece after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Sunday that he would stick to plans to roll back austerity measures and reject an international bailout extension.
Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s downgraded Greece late Friday and warned that time is running out for Athens to reach an agreement on a new financing program with creditors.
Concerns over a slowdown in China also weighed after official data on Sunday showed that exports fell 3.3% in January on a year-over-year basis, while imports dropped 19.9%, pointing to weakening domestic demand.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.18% to 94.69, off Friday’s highs of 94.87.