Investing.com - The dollar moved back lower against the other majors currencies on Friday, as uncertainty over the outcome of next week’s U.S. presidential election overshadowed the release of mostly positive U.S. data.
EUR/USD edged up 0.13% to 1.1119, re-approaching Thursday’s three-and-a-half week high of 1.1128.
The U.S. Labor Department said the economy added 161,000 jobs in October, disappointing expectations for an increase of 175,000. However, September’s figure was revised up to a 191,000 gain from a previously estimated rise of 156,000.
The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.9% last month from 5.0% in September, in line with expectations.
Data also showed that U.S. average hourly earnings rose 0.4% in October, exceeding expectations for an uptick of 0.3%.
A separate report showed that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $36.44 billion in September from $40.46 billion in October. Analysts had expected the trade deficit to hit $37.80 billion in September.
Meanwhile, investors were still cautious amid growing uncertainty over Hillary Clinton’s prospects ahead of the November 8 presidential election, amid fears over the implications of a victory for Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD climbed 0.63% to a fresh one-month peak of 1.2538.
The pound remained supported after the UK high court ruled on Thursday that the government does not have the authority to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to start the UK’s exit from the EU without a parliamentary vote.
USD/JPY added 0.17% to 103.16, off Thursday’s one-month low of 102.54, while USD/CHF slid 0.41% to 0.9698.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars remained weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.18% at 0.7666 and with NZD/USD shedding 0.33% to 0.7308.
Earlier Friday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that retail sales rose 0.6% in September, beating expectations for a 0.4% gain.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD held steady at 1.3407, after hitting an eight-month high of 1.3465 earlier in the session.
Statistics Canada reported that the number of employed people rose by 43,900 in October, beating expectations for a 10,000 decline, after an increase of 67,200 the previous month.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.0% last month, as expected.
However, Canada’s trade deficit widened to C$4.08 billion in September from C$1.99 billion the previous month, confounding expectations for a deficit of C$1.70 billion.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.12% at 97.07, just off Thursday’s three-week lows of 97.07.