Dollar rises on positive U.S. job data
New York (Dec 5) The U.S. dollar strengthened against most major currencies after a report showed U. S. private sector added more jobs than expected in November.
U.S. private sector employment added 215,000 jobs in November, far exceeding analysts' expectations of 173,000, according to the ADP, a private payroll processor.
The better-than-expected jobs data boosted speculations that the Fed may scale back its monetary stimulus in its upcoming policy meeting scheduled for Dec. 17 to 18.
Meanwhile, sales of new single family houses in October jumped 25.4 percent from the preceding month, the Commerce Department said, also surpassing market estimates.
The Commerce Department also said that the U.S. international trade deficit in goods and services narrowed to 40.6 billion dollars in October from the 43 billion dollars in September.
However, the dollar pared some gains after a service activity report released by the Institute for Supply Management showed U.S. non-manufacturing index for November registered at 53.9, 1.5 lower than October's reading and market expectations.
Investors were reluctant to make big bets ahead of U.S. Labor Department's November non-farm payroll report due out Friday and the Commerce Department's release of the revised figure of the third-quarter gross domestic product slated for Thursday.
Fed officials have said they may reduce the scale of its bond- buying program "in coming months" as the economy improves.
Moreover, investors are paying attention to the European Central Bank's next monetary policy meeting on Thursday.
In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.3589 dollars from 1.3591 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.6377 dollars from 1.6401 dollars. The Australian dollar dropped to 0.9027 dollar from 0.9138 dollar.
The dollar bought 102.14 Japanese yen, lower than 102.35 yen of the previous session. The dollar moved down to 0.9026 Swiss franc from 0.9046 Swiss franc and it went up to 1.0683 Canadian dollars from 1.0649 Canadian dollars.