CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar extended decline against its major counterparts in the New York session on Friday, as investors digested jobs data showing a slowdown in wage growth and a rise in unemployment in February.
Data from the Labor Department showed that non-farm payroll employment surged by 275,000 jobs in February, while economists had expected employment to jump by 200,000 jobs.
However, the report also said job growth in December and January was downwardly revised to 290,000 and 229,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net downward revision of 167,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate rose to 3.9 percent in February from 3.7 percent in January. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to come in unchanged.
Average earnings rose 0.1 percent month-on-month, down from expectations of 0.3 percent.
The currency dropped in the previous session following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's remarks that the U.S. central bank is getting close to the confidence it needs to start lowering interest rates.
The greenback dropped to a 7-1/2-month low of 1.2893 against the pound and near a 2-month low of 1.0981 against the euro, from yesterday's closing values of 1.2808 and 1.0948, respectively.
The greenback weakened to a 5-week low of 146.47 against the yen and more than a 3-week low of 0.8729 against the franc, from Thursday's close of 148.04 and 0.8776, respectively.
The greenback fell to a 4-week low of 1.3419 against loonie, near 2-month low of 0.6667 against the aussie and a fresh 2-week low of 0.6217 against the kiwi, from yesterday's close of 1.3458, 0.6620 and 0.6174, respectively.
The greenback is seen finding support around 1.31 against the pound, 1.11 against the euro, 144.00 against the yen, 0.86 against the franc, 1.30 against loonie, 0.68 against the aussie and 0.63 against the kiwi.
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