The US dollar fell against most major currencies on Friday as data showed that US employers last month hired far fewer workers than forecast, although the jobless rate fell and wages grew more than expected.
The Swedish crown fell to a 16-year low, as Riksbank joined its central bank counterparts in Europe and Canada in adopting a cautious outlook.
The greenback on Thursday reversed some of its biggest one-day gains in nearly seven months as the European Central Bank (ECB) and other central banks hinted that they might pump more stimulus, either by buying more assets or lowering interest rates, to help their struggling economies.
Traders sold the US dollar a bit more early on Friday after a measly 20,000-job increase in domestic payrolls last month, far fewer than 180,000 forecast among analysts polled by Reuters.
However, traders were encouraged by the unemployment rate falling back below 4 percent and the average hourly earnings accelerating by 0.4 percent.
“The dollar sold off mildly. It doesn’t look that bad when you look at the details,” said Peter Ng, senior currency trader at Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, California.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.24 percent to 97.36, up 0.9 percent for the week.
It touched 97.710 on Thursday, the highest since Dec. 14 last year.
Much of the greenback’s weekly rise stemmed from a dramatic sell-off in the euro on Thursday, when the ECB offered a fresh round of cheap loans to banks and pushed back any plan to raise rates into next year.
The common currency rose 0.37 percent to US$1.1232, rebounding from a 20-month low of US$1.11765 reached on Thursday.
Friday’s rise reduced the euro’s weekly loss against the US dollar to 1.2 percent, its steepest one-week decline since late September.
Among other G10 currencies, the Swedish crown succumbed to further selling pressure, hitting 9.4890 per US dollar on Friday, its weakest since August 2002.
The crown slipped again a day after Swedish Central Bank Governor Stefan Ingves struck a dovish note in a statement to parliament.
Data showed Swedish house prices fell in the three months ending last month.
“Yesterday, the Riksbank suggested that its forecasts for repo rate hikes were simply that — a forecast, but not a promise,” HSBC Holdings PLC strategists said in a daily note.
In Taipei, the New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar, losing NT$0.033 to close at NT$30.902, down 0.4 percent from NT$30.775 on Wednesday last week.
Additional reporting by CNA
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