The US dollar staged a strong rally on Friday after a solid US employment report prompted the market to raise its expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.
The US dollar stood at ?118.29, from ?117.69 on Thursday. The euro dropped to US$1.2094 at 9pm GMT from US$1.2224 late on Thursday in New York.
The euro weakened after data showed the US economy had created 211,000 jobs last month, which US President George W. Bush said revealed an "economic resurgence."
The "non-farm payrolls" figure given by the US Labor Department, while down from a revised 225,000 in February, was well ahead of Wall Street's forecast for 190,000 extra jobs last month.
The jobless rate fell to a five-year low of 4.7 percent last month, from 4.8 percent in February, the department said.
"No doubt, this payrolls report reaffirms the prospects that the Fed will remain aggressive in the months ahead," said Timothy Mazanec, senior currency strategist at Investors Bank and Trust.
Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at the Bank of New York, commented: "Strong growth and tight labor market conditions argue for pre-emptive tightening that could very well take the fed funds target rate above 5.0 percent later this year. This is viewed as a dollar positive."
The federal funds rate currently stand at 4.75 percent, their highest level in five years.
But Kathy Lien at Forex Capital Markets said the report was not strong enough to change the overall picture, and that the dollar could lose its gains in the next week.
"The dollar really needed a resoundingly strong report to reverse its recent weakness," she said.
"At this point, the market is likely to consolidate and look to next week's trade balance and retail sales data to determine the direction of the pair [dollar/euro] for the near term. The US economy hinges on strong consumer spending and if it fails to deliver, the euro could head right back to its year to date highs," Lien said.
The euro remained under pressure after the European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet indicated on Thursday that the bank might not raise rates next month as expected by the market.
In late New York trade, the US dollar stood at 1.3007 Swiss francs after SF1.2901 on Thursday.
The pound was being traded at US$1.7435 after US$1.7525 on Thursday.
The greenback lost ground against the New Taiwan dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange on Friday, decreasing NT$0.001 to close at NT$32.328.
The US currency opened at NT$32.350.
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