Investing.com – The dollar rose against basket of global currencies on Friday, as investors cheered the release of a mostly upbeat nonfarm payrolls report, showing a stronger than expected pace of employment growth but an uptick in the unemployment rate.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose by 0.23% to 95.80.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, nonfarm payrolls grew by 222,000 in June, well above expectations of a 179,000 increase, but the unemployment rate fell to 4.4%, a notch above analysts’ forecasts of 4.3%.
Average hourly earnings were up 2.5 per cent year-over-year missing economists’ forecasts for a 2.6 per cent increase.
The rise in the greenback, weighed on dollar-related currency pairs, with the pound and Canadian dollar falling to session lows.
GBP/USD fell to $1.2885, down 0.66%, after a data on Friday showed manufacturing activity in May undershot expectations, declining 0.2% against economists’ forecasts of a 0.5% increase.
Also adding to sterling woes, was a slump in industrial output while the trade deficit continued to widen.
USD/CAD dipped by 0.89% to C$1.2863, as the oil-linked Canadian dollar came under pressure after oil prices fell more than 2% on the back of oversupply jitters.
EUR/USD bounced off session lows to $1.1405, down 0.16%, while EUR/GBP added 0.5% to $0.8852.
The single currency has remained bullish, after the minutes from European Central Bank’s previous meeting, revealed that policymakers had discussed removing the central bank’s long-standing pledge to expand or extend its bond-purchase programme.
USD/JPY hit two-month highs, rising to Y114.03, up 0.71%.