Dollar continues to grow after the release of US employment statistics

05.02.2016

On Friday, dollar holds gains against major currencies after the release of positive data on employment in the non-agricultural sector of the US, while the uncertainty about interest rate hike by Federal still putts pressure on the US currency.

USD/JPY pair is stable at the level of 116.81.

The Labor Department said that in January in the US non-farm sector were created 151000 jobs, less than expected the 190000. In December, the number of employed rose 262000, the rate has been revised from the preliminary 292000.

The US unemployment rate fell to 4.9% last month from 5.0% in December. Analysts predicted that the unemployment rate will remain at the same level in January.

The report also showed that average hourly earnings increased by 0.5% in January, more than the expected growth of 0.3%, after a zero increase in December.

But the dollar remained under pressure after on Wednesday the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, William Dudley, said the forecast on slowdown in the global economy and the further strengthening of the dollar could lead to "significant consequences" for the US economy.

EUR/USD fell 0.25% to 1.1185.

Earlier on Friday, data showed that the volume of orders in industry in Germany declined in December by 0.7%, confounding expectations on a decline to 0.5%, after rising 1.5% in the previous month.

The dollar edged higher against the pound: GBP/USD pair fell 0.40% to 1.4527, and fell against the Swiss franc: USD/CHF was down 0.12% to 0.9918.

Meanwhile, USD/CAD pair is stable at 1.3745 after data showed that in January the number of employees in Canada decreased by 5700, confounding expectations for an increase by 5500.

The level of unemployment in Canada rose to 7.2% from 7.1% in the previous month in December, although index changes were not expected.

A separate report showed that Canada's trade deficit narrowed in December to 0.59 billion Canadian dollars from 1.59 billion Canadian dollars in November.

Australian and New Zealand dollars show decline, AUD/USD pair fell 0.33% to 0.7176 and NZD/USD was down 0.30% to 0.6705.

USD index, which indicates the ratio of the dollar against a basket of major currencies, was up 0.19% to 96.68, rebounding from a 3.5-month low of 96.27 the previous session.

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