Investing.com - The dollar rose to the day’s highs against the other major currencies on Friday after the release of a much stronger than forecast U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for July.
The Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 255,000 jobs last month.
Economists had forecast that payrolls would increase by 180,000.
June’s number was revised up to 292,000 jobs compared with the previous estimate of 287,000.
The U.S. unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9% in July.
Average hourly earnings were up 2.6% compared with a year earlier.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.33% to 96.07 from around 95.58 earlier as the robust data was seen as increasing the chances of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve this year.
The dollar index fell around 2% last week, the worst weekly performance since April, in the wake of a much-weaker-than-expected report on U.S. second quarter growth and on a statement from the Fed that failed to give a clear signal of a near-term rate rise.
The euro was lower, with EUR/USD down 0.31% at 1.1095.
The dollar also pushed higher against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.15% 101.38.
Sterling edged lower again after ending Wednesday’s session down 1.6% after the Bank of England cut interest rates to record lows and launched a larger than expected monetary stimulus package.
GBP/USD was down 0.18% at 1.3083
The dollar was higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF up 0.55% at 0.9752.