By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — The dollar extended its sharp gains during Asian trading hours on Monday after last week’s strong jobs report in the U.S.
The ICE dollar index DXY +0.10% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, traded at 80.065 from 79.985 in late North American trading on Friday.
The dollar rose more than 1% against the euro on Friday and hit a 10-month high against the Japanese yen after a strong U.S. jobs report.
The U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs in February while the amount of hiring in both January and December was revised higher, the Labor Department said. The unemployment rate remained at 8.3% for February.
“It was hard to fault the February U.S. payrolls report,” said strategists at BNP Paribas, adding: “Risk and the dollar enjoyed a day of strong positive correlation.”
“The simple message may be that risk-appetite driven by good economic news is dollar positive, risk-appetite driven by rising hope for more Fed easing is dollar negative,” they said.
The strategists noted that one of the most notable moves in currency markets on Friday came from the Japanese yen/U.S. dollar pair.
“This highlights the role of diminished expectations for further Federal Reserve easing and higher Treasury yields,” they said. “Were the Bank of Japan to move again, when they meet on Tuesday, then U.S. dollar/yen gains could well extend.”
The euro EURUSD -0.0038% traded at $1.3096, from $1.3115 in late North American trading Friday.
The dollar USDJPY -0.3636% bought 82.24 yen on Monday, down from ÂĄ82.41 Friday, but still above its ÂĄ81.60 level late Thursday.
The British pound GBPUSD +0.1309% reached $1.5671, from $1.5681 on Friday.
