Investing.com - The dollar trimmed gains against the other major currencies on Friday, after the release of disappointing U.S. employment data dampened expectations for a rate hike before the year end.
EUR/USD was still down 0.14% at 1.1130, just off the two-month low of 1.1104 hit earlier
The U.S. Labor Department said the economy added 156,000 jobs in September, compared to expectations for 175,000. The economy created 167,000 jobs in August, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 151,000.
The report also showed that the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.0% last month from 4.9% in August. Analysts had expected an unchanged reading for September.
Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% in September, in line with expectations and after an uptick of 0.1% the previous month.
GBP/USD plummeted 2.12% to trade at a fresh 31-year low of 1.2346.
The U.K. Office for National Statistics earlier said that manufacturing production increased by 0.2% in August, disappointing expectations for a 0.5% gain. Year-on-year, manufacturing production rose 0.5% in August, compared to forecasts for a 0.9% increase.
The report also showed that industrial production fell by 0.4% in August, confounding forecasts for a 0.1% rise.
A separate report showed that the U.K. trade deficit widened to £12.11 billion in August from a revised £9.51 billion in July. Analysts had expected the trade deficit to hit £11.30 billion in August.
Market analysts believe that an overnight "flash crash" of the pound was intially driven by computer-initiated sell orders.
But concerns over a potential ‘hard Brexit’ have been weighing heavily on the pound all week. French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday that the EU needed to remain firm with Britain in the Brexit negotiations.
Elsewhere, USD/JPY slipped 0.24% to 103.67, just off the previous session’s one-month peak of 104.16, while USD/CHF held steady at 0.9811.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were little changed, with AUD/USD at 0.7585 and with NZD/USD at 0.7159.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD eased 0.08% to trade at 1.3204, off a seven-month peak of 1.3296 hit earlier in the day.
Also Friday, Statistics Canada said the number of employed people increased by 67,200 in September, beating expectations for a 10,000 rise and after a 26,200 gain the previous month.
Canada’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.0% last month, in line with expectations.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.18% at 96.84, off two-month highs of 97.21 reached overnight.