Forex - Dollar mixed on jobs data, European jitters

Forexpros - The dollar was mixed against the world's major currencies, as stronger-than-expected unemployment figures released Friday fueled sentiments that the Federal Reserve is less likely to resort to extraordinary monetary policies to ensure price and unemployment stability.

The dollar rose against the euro early Friday, although the European currency rebounded a bit, with EUR/USD rising 0.05% and trading at 1.3149 in mid-afternoon trading.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the economy added a net 243,000 nonfarm payrolls in January, well above forecasts for a gain of 150,000.

Markets interpreted the news that the Federal Reserve is now less likely to pump liquidity into the financial system via extraordinary monetary policies such as quantitative easing, which tend to weaken the greenback as a side effect.

Furthermore, the fate of the European debt crisis remained unclear on Friday, as even though Greece remains on the cusp of announcing a restructuring deal with private creditors, a final deal has yet to be reached and even when it does become a reality, much work remains to steady Europe as a whole.

However, stock prices rose on the U.S. unemployment data, which cut into the dollar's gains amid a global rush for riskier assets.

Meanwhile, the dollar was lower against the pound, with Cable rising 0.07% to hit 1.5816.

The greenback was up 0.46% against the yen, with USD/JPY trading at 76.57, and up against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF gaining 0.20% to 0.9186.

The greenback was down against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD down 0.60% at 0.9934, AUD/USD up 0.69% at 1.0786 and NZD/USD up 0.43% at 0.8368.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.02% at 79.06.

On Monday, Swiss unemployment figures and inflation data are due out as are numbers on German factory orders.

In the U.S. on Monday, the Federal Budget Balance is due out as well.