NEW YORK: The dollar fell against the euro and yen Friday after a solid US jobs report was seen as not strong enough to spur the Federal Reserve into raising interest rates.
The highly anticipated March jobs report from the Labor Department showed a better-than-expected 215,000 jobs were added, average hourly earnings rose 0.3 percent and the unemployment rate inched up to 5.0 percent, largely because more people entered the jobs market.
“Investors were disappointed by the increase in the unemployment rate,” said Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management. “Today’s labor market numbers needed to be unambiguously positive to draw investors back to the dollar and unfortunately underlying weakness prevented the dollar from rallying.”
By the end of the session, the dollar was trading at $1.1393 per euro, slipping 0.1 percent from the prior day. The greenback fell more sharply against the Japanese currency, losing 0.9 percent at 111.63 yen.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s dovish remarks in a speech earlier this week dampened appetite for the US currency as she suggested the central bank would move cautiously in raising rates given troubles in the global economy.
