Investing.com - The dollar was steady against a basket of other major currencies on Monday, after slipping lower on Friday after data showed that the U.S. economy added fewer-than-expected jobs in July.
The Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs in July, below forecasts for jobs growth of 233,000.
Although it was the sixth successive month that the U.S. economy added more than 200,000 jobs, the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked up to 6.2% from 6.1% in June. In addition, wage growth was flat, pointing to underlying slack in the economy.
The data prompted investors to curtail expectations on the timing of a possible rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
EUR/USD eased 0.07% to 1.3419, off Friday’s highs of 1.3443. The pair remained supported above the eight month lows of 1.3366 reached last Wednesday.
The single currency turned lower as investors turned their attention to the upcoming monetary policy review by the European Central Bank on Thursday.
Data late last week showed that the annual rate of inflation in the euro area slowed to 0.4% in July, adding to pressure on the bank to implement measures to avert the risk of deflation in the region.
The dollar slipped lower against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.14% to 102.46, off the almost four month highs of 103.07 set last Wednesday, while USD/CHF was almost flat at 0.9062.
Sterling eased back from one-and-a-half month lows, with GBP/USD edging up 0.12% to 1.6841.
Sterling showed little reaction earlier Monday after data showed that activity in the U.K. construction sector slowed last month.
The U.K. construction purchasing managers’ index slowed to 62.4 from 62.6 in June, but was slightly ahead of expectations for a reading of 62.0. The overall pace of growth was still the fastest since 2007.
The commodity linked Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars were moving in tight ranges, with AUD/USD easing up 0.14% to 0.9326, NZD/USD inching up 0.08% to 0.8522 and USD/CAD little changed at 1.0918.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was steady at 81.41, holding below last week’s 10-month peaks of 81.66.