U.S. Dollar Strengthens On Better-than-expected Jobs Data

New York (Mar 8)  The U.S. dollar climbed against other major currencies on Friday, as the economy added more jobs than forecast in February, easing concerns on labor market recovery.

The report released by the Labor Department said that non-farm payroll employment rose by 175,000 jobs in February following an upwardly revised increase of 129,000 jobs in January.

Economists had expected an increase of about 150,000 jobs compared to the addition of 113,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Despite the job growth, the unemployment rate edged up to 6.7 percent in February after dipping to a five-year low of 6.6 percent in January.

The greenback rose to 0.8812 against the franc, snapping back from new 2-year low of 0.8756 hit in early deals. On the upside, 0.89 is seen as the next resistance for the greenback.

The greenback strengthened to 103.61 against the yen for the first time since January 23. An extension of bullish trend may take the greenback to a resistance around the 105.00 zone.

The greenback advanced to 1.3856 against the euro after data, reversing from more than 2-year low of 1.3915 hit at 6:30 am ET. The next possible resistance for the greenback lies around the 1.37 mark.

The greenback climbed back and traded around 1.6723 against the pound, following an early more than 2-week low of 1.6786. The greenback is likely to find resistance at the 1.66 zone.

Source: rttNews