MW; Dollar bounces after U.S. jobs report not as bad as feared
The U.S. dollar gained ground versus the euro on Friday after a government report said the economy lost fewer jobs last month than economists expected, relieving concerns that the economy's downturn is accelerating.
The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, traded at 84.670, up from 84.319 in North American trade late Thursday.
The economy shed 663,000 jobs in March, the Labor Department said. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected nonfarm payrolls to fall by 688,000.
"After watching jobs erode for fifteen consecutive months, investors were relieved that job losses did not top 700,000 in the month of March, which was the whisper number on the street," said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at GFT.
The unemployment rate jumped to 8.5% last month, as predicted. The government also made big downward revisions to January's losses. See story on jobs data.
U.S. stocks headed lower after the data, indicating investors are less interested in taking more risks. The dollar has tended to gain ground due to repatriation flows, deleveraging and haven-related buying during periods of rising economic uncertainty and financial turmoil.
The euro fell versus the greenback to trade at $1.3386, down from $1.3461.
The dollar rose versus the Japanese currency to trade above 100 yen for the first time since Nov. 4. The dollar traded as high as 100.15 yen and recently changed hands at 99.86 yen, compared with 99.55 yen late Thursday.
