Investing.com - The dollar turned broadly lower against the other major currencies on Friday, as the release of disappointing U.S. employment data dampened demand for the greenback.
The Labor Department said the U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs last mont, disappointing expectations for an increase of 233,000. The number of jobs added in June was revised up to a 298,000 gain from a previously estimated rise of 288,000.
The report also showed that the U.S. unemployment rate ticked up to 6.2% last month, from 6.1% in June. Analysts had expected the rate to remain unchanged in July.
The euro rose against the dollar, with EUR/USD up 0.27% to 1.3426.
Markit research group earlier said that Germany's manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 52.4 last month from 52.9 in June. Analysts had expected the index to remain unchanged.
For the entire euro zone, Markit said the manufacturing PMI ticked down to 51.8 in July, from a reading of 51.9 the previous month. Analysts had also expected the index to remain unchanged.
The single currency also remained under pressure after official data on Thursday showed that the annual rate of inflation in the euro area slowed to a five year low of 0.4% in July from 0.5% in June.
The data added to pressure on the European Central Bank to implement further stimulus measures to shore up growth and stave off the threat of deflation in the currency bloc.
Sterling remained near fresh one-and-a-half month lows, with GBP/USD shedding 0.23% to 1.6847.
Markit said the U.K. manufacturing PMI fell to 55.4 last month, from a reading of 57.5 in June. Analysts had expected the index to slip to 57.2 in July.
Elsewhere, the dollar was lower against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY edging down 0.09% to 102.69 and with USD/CHF sliding 0.34% to 0.9057.
The dollar was also lower against its Australian, New Zealand and Canadian counterparts, with AUD/USD rising 0.22% to 0.9314, NZD/USD gaining 0.24% to 0.8520 and with USD/CAD dipping 0.04% to 1.0899.
The export-related currencies found some support after data showed that China's manufacturing PMI rose to 51.7 from 51.0 in July, beating market expectations.
But the report was offset by Markit's report showing that China's HSBC final manufacturing PMI ticked down to 51.7 last month from 52.0. Analysts had expected the index to remain unchanged.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.22% at 81.36.
Later in the day, the Institute of Supply Management was to release data on manufacturing activity.