The US dollar bounced on Friday after US job growth for last month helped ease some investor worries on the US labor market, but the currency logged a seventh straight week of declines.
The US Department of Labor’s report showed that non-farm payrolls last month increased by 1.76 million.
While that was more than the 1.6 million economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast, it was still sharply lower than the record 4.8 million in June.
“The employment report allayed the market’s downside job fears, allowing the dollar to rally broadly through the NY session,” Ron Simpson, director of currency research at Action Economics LLC in Tampa, Florida, wrote in a note.
In Taipei, the New Taiwan dollar fell against the greenback, losing NT$0.011 to close at NT$29.514, weakening 0.04 percent from last week’s NT$29.502.
The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose in the wake of the report and hit its highest in three days, rising 0.7 percent to 93.39.
The index’s rebound might not signal an end to its recent weakness, some analysts said.
Despite Friday’s gains, the index, which hit a two-year low on Thursday, finish the week down 0.04 percent.
That is its seventh straight weekly loss, the longest such streak in a decade.
“One month’s survey isn’t going to be enough to meaningfully arrest the fall in the dollar,” said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions LLC in Washington.
Investors also kept an eye on stimulus talks in Washington.
US Republicans and Democrats have so far failed to reach an agreement on the cost of fiscal stimulus measures that many investors have said is necessary to prevent the economy from losing more momentum.
The euro has retreated from recent highs and fell 0.8 percent to US$1.1785, but inched up 0.06 percent for the week.
The British pound on Friday fell 0.7 percent to US$1.3057, down 0.2 percent for the week.
The risk-sensitive Australian dollar fell on concerns about worsening US-Chinese relations and the Reserve Bank of Australia’s downbeat assessment of the local economy.
The US dollar is at its most oversold level in more than 40 years, investment bank Morgan Stanley said, adding that it had now shifted from its US dollar-bearish stance and turned “tactically neutral” on the US currency.
Speculators raised their net short US dollar positions in the latest week, data on Friday showed.
Additional reporting by CNA, with staff writer
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