Dollar Rises Versus Yen as U.S. Jobs Gain Shapes Fed Speculation

New York (Dec 6)  The dollar gained versus the yen after a report showed the U.S. added more jobs last month than forecast and the unemployment rate fell to a five-year low as the Federal Reserve considers when to reduce monetary stimulus.

The U.S. currency declined versus a majority of its 16 most-traded peers even as the Labor Department reported payrolls increased by 203,000 in November, versus the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey for a 185,000 advance. The yen weakened earlier after the head of an advisory panel called on Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund to start cutting domestic debt holdings. The 17-nation euro fluctuated versus the greenback after European Central Bank refrained yesterday from adding to monetary stimulus.

“The driver for the Federal Open Market Committee is the headline unemployment rate, which we continue to predict will result in a mere $5 billion reduction in the flow of security purchases at the December meeting,” Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York, said by e-mail.

The dollar rose 0.8 percent to 102.65 yen at 9:25 a.m. in New York. The greenback lost 0.1 percent to $1.3674 per euro. The 17-nation currency gained 0.9 percent to 140.40 yen.

The Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against 10 major counterparts, added 0.1 percent to 1,017.98.