By MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The dollar rose against the yen and the British pound and pared a loss versus the euro on Friday, after a report said the U.S. economy added more jobs than forecast last month even as the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose.
The activity followed reaction in the Asian and European session to apparent global support for Greece and the hung parliament in the U.K. after the Wall Street tumble on Thursday.
Finance ministers from the Group of Seven were due to hold a telephone conference, which helped put a floor under the European unit (CUR_EURUSD 1.2706, +0.0076, +0.6018%) . The euro recovered to $1.2727 in recent trading, from $1.2639 late Thursday. The shared currency touched a 14-month low on Thursday.
The dollar index (DXY 84.65, -0.24, -0.29%) , a measure of the U.S. unit against a basket of six major currencies, traded at 84.637, compared to 84.623 before the data and 84.778 in late North American trading Thursday.
The dollar (CUR_USDYEN 92.4100, +1.5800, +1.7395%) bought 92.62 Japanese yen, up from 90.44 yen late Thursday.
The Labor U.S. Department said the world's largest economy added 290,000 jobs in April, with about 224,000 coming from private companies. Read more on U.S. jobs.
Analysts polled by MarketWatch expected a total of 185,000 jobs to be added. The unemployment rates rose to 9.9%, versus expectations for it to stay at 9.7%.
The British pound was very volatile, sliding as low as $1.4473 after voters failed to give a clear mandate to any party after the general election.
The U.K. currency moved off lows after the leader of the third party, the Liberal Democrats, said the Tories should have the right to attempt to form the next government. See more on U.K. election.
The pound (CUR_GBPUSD 1.4670, -0.0110, -0.7463%) fell to $1.4707, from $1.4866 in late North American trading on Thursday, a day in which it lost more than 1% against the greenback.
On Thursday, the euro extended losses as U.S. stocks briefly plunged 8%, recovering later but still ending down more than 3%. Fears continued to rise about European countries' ability to slash deficits after riots followed Greek lawmakers' approval of austerity measures. See Thursday's Currencies report.
