Forex - U.S. dollar climbs on strong non farm payroll report

Forexpros -  The U.S. dollar eased higher against most of its major counterparts Friday, as the non farm payroll report beat expectations and unemployment dropped.
 
During early session U.S. trade, the dollar gained ground against the euro, with EUR/USD easing lower 0.14% to hit 1.3124.
 
Non farm payrolls in the U.S. beat forecast adding 243,000 according to official data, and the unemployment rate dropped to 8.3%.
 
This improvement cause’s doubt that the Federal Reserve will be able to stick to its vow not to raise interest rates until late 2014.
 
The surprising rise in employment was broad based, involving multiple economic sectors.
 
Earlier in the euro zone, Spain auctioned EUR4.5billion of medium term debt at lower yields than previously, while France sold EUR8 billion of debt to solid investor interest and lower yields.
 
The greenback traded higher against the pound, with GBP/USD slipping 0.24% to hit 1.5768.
 
Yesterday, U.K. data indicated that the construction sector expanded in January at a weaker than forecast pace, as growth in new orders slowed and contracts completed.
 
Meanwhile, the Yen traded within one yen of a post war high versus the U.S. dollar on government intervention speculation.

The greenback was higher against the yen and against the Swiss franc with USD/JPY gaining 0.45% to 76.56 and USD/CHF advancing 0.25% to hit 0.9190.
 
Official data showed that Switzerland’s trade surplus narrowed to CHF2.07 billion in December as exports declined due to the euro zone crisis
 
The greenback was lower against its Canadian but higher against its Australian and New Zealand counterparts with USD/CAD falling 0.14% to hit 0.9980, AUD/USD climbing 0.30% to hit 1.0744 and NZD/USD adding 0.19% to 0.8348.
 
A Canadian job report indicated that the nation’s unemployment rate unexpectedly increased to 7.6% missing estimates of no change from the previous 7.5%.
 
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, climbed 0.33% to hit 79.34.