The dollar erased its gain versus the euro after a government report showed U.S. job losses were near what economists forecast, reducing demand for the greenback’s safety. The yen was headed for a weekly decline against all of its major counterparts on speculation Japanese investors will buy higher-yielding assets overseas after the Group of 20 leaders pledged yesterday to triple the money the International Monetary Fund can lend to rescue crisis-stricken nations to $750 billion. “The worst of the fall-off is behind us,” said Sacha Tihanyi, a currency strategist at Scotia Capital Inc. in Toronto, before the payroll report was released. “The market is pent up for risk. A lot of money is sitting on the sidelines, waiting for good entry points.” The dollar traded at $1.3469 per euro at 8:35 a.m. in New York, compared with $1.3461 yesterday. The yen was at 100.114 per dollar, compared with 99.52. The euro traded at 134.87 yen, compared with 133.98. Employers eliminated 663,000 jobs last month, following a reduction of 651,000 in February, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. The median forecast of 80 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a drop of 660,000. The jobless rate increased to 8.5 percent, meeting the forecast of economists. The Dollar Index, which the ICE uses to track the greenback’s performance against the euro, yen, pound, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and Swedish krona, fell 0.2 percent to 84.28 today. It increased 5.1 percent in the first three months of 2009, a fourth consecutive quarterly gain. Jobless Benefits The number of Americans seeking jobless benefits last week climbed to the highest level in 26 years. Initial jobless claims swelled to 669,000 in the week ended March 28, the Labor Department said yesterday. The dollar depreciated 0.9 percent versus the euro on March 6, when the Labor Department’s payroll report for February indicated job losses slowed, reducing demand for safety. The G-20 turned yesterday to the Washington-based IMF to prevent the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression from swamping more developing nations. G-20 leaders gave approval in London for the IMF to raise $250 billion by issuing Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, the artificial currency the IMF uses to settle accounts among member nations. The pound gained versus the euro today as Markit Economics said an index based on a survey of about 700 services companies by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply rose to a six-month high in March. Sterling increased 0.3 percent to 91.13 pence per euro and was little changed at $1.4742. ECB’s Decision The euro rose yesterday against the dollar after the European Central Bank cut the main refinancing rate less than economists forecast and deferred a decision on what other tools it can use to rescue its ailing economy. The ECB lowered its benchmark rate by a quarter-percentage point to 1.25 percent, less than the half-point reduction forecast by 49 of 55 economists in a Bloomberg survey. “Longer term, this is probably euro-negative as it confirms that the ECB is behind the curve,” said Jeremy Stretch, a senior currency strategist in London at Rabobank International, the biggest Dutch mortgage lender. The euro’s gain yesterday was a “knee-jerk reaction,” and the common currency may drop to $1.23 and 87 pence in six months, according to Stretch.

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