Investing.com – The euro rallied late on Friday, after a report surfaced that the European Central Bank (ECB) had discussed the possibility of introducing a rate hike before the end of its quantitative easing (QE) programme.
A report that the European Central Bank had discussed whether rates could rise before it ends its QE programme sent the single currency soaring to a three-week high and came fresh off the heels of a somewhat bullish statement from ECB President Mario Draghi on Thursday.
Mr Draghi said “there is no longer that sense of urgency” for the ECB to use ultra-loose monetary policy to achieve its mandates.
The euro notched up more than 1% against the dollar, as EUR/USD hit a session high of $1.0699 late on Friday.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, slipped 0.70% to 101.27 by 16:08 ET despite the U.S. economy adding more jobs than expected in February.
The Labor Department's non-farm payrolls report showed employers added 235,000 jobs last month, beating expectations for a 200,000 rise.
Meanwhile, the dollar slipped further away from its Canadian counterpart with USD/CAD down 0.37% to $1.3462 after a bullish Canadian jobs report for February.
Canada’s unemployment rate fell to 6.6% last month from 6.8% in January. Analysts had expected an unchanged reading last month.
USD/JPY traded at 114.73 down 0.21%.