Investing.com - The dollar gained significant ground today, surging on positive job creation figures from a U.S. government report, but gold and silver suffered price setbacks.
The dollar/yen pairing ended the day today at 117.00, an increase of 1.44%.
The pound/dollar pair concluded the day at 1.2279, an increase for the dollar of 1.08%.
The euro/dollar pairing finished Friday at 1.0529, a decrease of 0.70% for the euro.
The price of gold today settled at $1172.60 per ouce, down 0.74%.
The price of silver also slitted on trading today, at $16.515, a decrease of 0.73%.
Gold was down from yesterday's level, which was a one-month high for the precious metal. Spot gold prices were also down.
The dollar was rising based on data that showed the addition of about 150,000 new jobs last month in the U.S. Hourly wages increased nearly 3%. Job creation was weaker than expected by analysts, including overseas observers of the U.S. market.
Moves by the Chinese banking authorities to bolster their currency, the yuan, also impacted forex today.
The session high for the dollar was 116.74 yen. While the euro hit a weekly high today, it declined against the dollar for the day.
The dollar is expected to continue to rise in the coming weeks. Parity with the euro may be reached shortly, analysts said.
The markets were impacted as well by a mass murder shooting by a domestic terrorist in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, though the extent of the impact was not quantifiable, analysts said.