The dollar climbed against the yen and currencies of commodities exporters rose after U.S. employers added more jobs than forecast, boosting speculation the recovery of the world’s biggest economy will accelerate. The Australian and New Zealand dollars were the top- performing major currencies. The yen earlier declined amid speculation the Bank of Japan will intervene to curb its gains. The dollar has slid 6 percent versus the currencies of major U.S. trade partners in 2011 amid speculation the Federal Reserve will trail other central banks in raising interest rates. “The U.S. labor market is very much seeing continued gradual recovery,” said Paresh Upadhyaya, head of Americas G-10 currency strategy at Bank of America Corp. in New York. “It’s nothing to crow about, but it’s also not showing any signs that it’s starting to slow. In that environment it’s going to be pretty positive for growth and commodity currencies.” The dollar strengthened 0.8 percent to 80.73 yen at 8:57 a.m. in New York, from 80.07 yesterday. The greenback was little changed at $1.4535 per euro, from $1.4539. Australia’s dollar gained for the first time versus its U.S. counterpart in five days, strengthening 1.6 percent to $1.0744. New Zealand’s dollar rose 1.1 percent to 79.31 U.S. cents in its first increase in five days. Payrolls increased by 244,000 workers last month, the biggest gain since May 2010, after a revised 221,000 gain the prior month, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Economists projected an April rise of 185,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Employment excluding government jobs jumped the most in five years. The jobless rate rose to 9 percent, the first increase since November. Dollar Index IntercontinentalExchange Inc.’s Dollar Index, used to track the greenback against the currencies of trading partners including the euro and yen, was rose 0.1 percent to 74.277. The dollar climbed 1.1 percent versus the yen on April 1, when the last payrolls report showed U.S. employers added more jobs in March than economists forecast and the jobless rate dropped to 8.8 percent, from 8.9 percent. It fell 0.6 percent against the euro after New York Fed President William Dudley said after the report not to be “overly optimistic about the growth outlook.” The greenback gained against both the yen and the euro on Feb. 4, when a report showed the unemployment rate fell to 9 percent even as employers added fewer positions than forecast. ECB Decision The U.S. currency climbed versus the euro yesterday as the European Central Bank signaled it may not raise interest rates next month. Currencies of commodities exporters plunged as raw- materials prices tumbled on concern that economic growth will slow as central banks seek to cool inflation by raising borrowing costs. The Australian dollar surged earlier today after the South Pacific nation’s central bank said it will likely raise interest rates “at some point.” The yen weakened versus the dollar after gaining yesterday to its strongest level since Group of Seven central banks intervened to weaken the currency on March 18 as investors sought to unwind bets in higher-yielding assets financed with yen. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has signaled he’ll maintain record stimulus until job growth accelerates and the economic recovery is robust enough to withstand tighter credit. Policy makers on April 27 agreed to finish $600 billion of Treasuries purchases to spur economic growth, even as they said the economy is recovering at a “moderate pace.” The central bank has held the benchmark interest rate at zero to 0.25 percent since December 2008 to spur the economy. The European Central Bank raised its key rate a quarter- percentage point to 1.25 percent in April. It kept the rate unchanged yesterday. The dollar has dropped the most this year among 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation- Weighted Currency Indexes, falling 5.2 percent. The euro is the best performer, rising 3.7 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Catarina Saraiva in New York at asaraiva5@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

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