The US dollar dropped to seven-month lows on Friday after data showed the US economy created fewer jobs than expected last month, which could derail a possible interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve in the second half of this year.
The greenback fell to seven-month troughs against the euro and Swiss franc, while sliding to a two-week bottom versus the yen.
Data showed that US non-farm payrolls increased just 138,000 last month as the manufacturing, government and retail sectors lost jobs.
The consensus forecast had been 185,000 new jobs.
March and April data were revised to show 66,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported.
Last month’s job gains marked a sharp deceleration from the 181,000 monthly average over the past 12 months.
However, the unemployment rate fell to a 16-year low of 4.3 percent.
Despite the big miss in payrolls, analysts said this would not necessarily prevent the Fed from raising interest rates this month.
In late trading, interest rate futures have priced in a 96 percent chance of a Fed rate increase on June 14, according to the CME’s FedWatch.
Traders continue to see a slightly less than an even chance for one more rate hike before the end of the year, based on the price of fed funds futures contracts traded at CME Group Inc’s Chicago Board of Trade.
In Taipei, the NT dollar yesterday fell NT$0.010 against the US dollar to close at NT$30.127, down 0.2 percent from last week’s NT$30.122 versus the greenback.
In late trading on Friday, the US dollar index fell to a seven-month low and was down 0.5 percent at 96.725, down 0.74 percent for the week.
The euro on Friday rose 0.6 percent against the US dollar at US$1.1276, after earlier rising to a seven-month peak of US$1.1282.
The common currency gained 0.9 percent against the US dollar this week.
Against the yen, the US dollar fell to two-week lows to ¥110.44 on Friday, down 0.8 percent for the week.
The US dollar also slid to seven-month troughs versus the Swiss franc, trading at SF0.9633, down 0.9 percent for the day.
Additional reporting by CNA
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