Investing.com - The dollar extended gains against the other major currencies on Friday, after data showing that the U.S. added far more jobs than expected last month boosted optimism over the strength of the economy.
EUR/USD dropped 0.55% to 1.1069, the lowest since July 28.
The Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 255,000 jobs last month. Economists had forecast that payrolls would increase by 180,000.
June’s number was revised up to 292,000 jobs compared with the previous estimate of 287,000.
The report also showed that the U.S. unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.9% in July.
Average hourly earnings were up 2.6% compared with a year earlier.
Earlier Friday, data showed that German factory orders fell 0.4% in June, compared to expectations for a 0.6% rise and after an uptick of 0.1% in May.
GBP/USD retreated 0.40% to a nearly four-week low of 1.3053.
The pound had already lost ground after the Bank of England cut interest rates to a record-low 0.25% on Thursday in a bid to buffer the economy from a downturn following the Brexit vote.
The central bank also boosted its quantitative easing program by £60 billion and slashed its growth forecast for next year. It now expects growth of just 0.8% in 2017, down from 2.3% in its May forecasts.
USD/JPY advanced 0.59% to trade at 101.83, not far from Tuesday’s three-week low of 100.65, while USD/CHF climbed 0.78% to 0.9814.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars turned lower, with AUD/USD down 0.37% at 0.7600 and with NZD/USD sliding 0.66% to 0.7126.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD rallied 1.34% to a one-and-a-half week high of 1.3197.
Also Friday, Statitics Canada reported that the number of employed people dropped by 31,200 in July, compared to expectations for a 10,000 rise and after a 700 fall the previous month.
Canada’s unemployment rate ticked up to 6.9% last month from 6.8% in June.
A separate report showed that Canada’s trade deficit widened to C$3.63 billion in June from C$3.50 billion in May, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of C$3.28 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to C$2.82 billion in June.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.64% at 96.37, the highest since July 29.