The US dollar got a much-needed lift from the latest and solid jobs report as it gained ground against its major rivals on Friday, erasing the sorry losses recorded in the previous sessions of the week.
Hired Support
According to the closely watched non-farm payroll reports showed by the US government, the country created 156 000 jobs in December, below the analysts’ expectations of 180 000 while job creations in October and November were revised by 19 000 more jobs than the previously reported.
While the recent figures fell below expectations, the payroll reports were still considered solid as it still showed signs of labor market improvement. The US added 2.16 million jobs last year with wages tallying a 2.9% increase in average hourly earnings, which gave emphasis to the belief that inflation could return to the market and that interest rate increases are up this year.
Despite trading in a volatile session after the release of the reports, the dollar index, which gauges the performance of the greenback against a basket of major currencies, rallied 0.7% to settle at 102.26, bouncing back from a 1.1% loss on Thursday.
The US dollar posted a 1.4% gain against the Japanese yen, a session high, to finish at 117.05, up from 115.34 on the previous trading.
The euro dipped 0.76% against the US dollar and was last trading at 1.0553, down from the 1.0598 close on Thursday. Meanwhile, its Canadian counterpart strengthened against the greenback and closed to 1.3244 from 1.3233.