WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar climbed higher in the New York session on Friday after data showing a stronger than expected growth in non-farm payroll employment dashed hopes of early interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
The dollar pared some of its gains as the day progressed but still managed to score over a few of its major counterparts.
Data from the Labor Department showed that non-farm payroll employment increased by 303,000 jobs in March after rising by a downwardly revised 270,000 jobs in February. Economists had expected employment to jump by 200,000 jobs compared to the addition of 275,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
The unemployment rate edged down to 3.8% in March from 3.9% in February. The unemployment rate was expected to come in unchanged.
The dollar was also supported by comments from Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari suggesting the possibility of no interest-rate cuts this year. Kashkari said that he has penciled two rate cuts this year, but none may be required if inflation continues to stall.
The dollar index climbed to 104.69 after the release of the jobs data, but gave up some gains subsequently. The index was last seen at 104.30, up 0.17% from the previous close.
Against the Euro, the dollar strengthened to 1.0792 after the release of the jobs data, but pared gains and was flat at 1.0839 a little while ago.
The dollar was up slightly against Pound Sterling at 1.2637 after having strengthened to 1.2574 earlier in the session. Against the Japanese currency, the dollar firmed to 151.61 yen.
The Aussie eased slightly against the dollar with the AUD/USD pair trading at 0.6583. Against Swiss franc, the dollar gained marginally to CHF 0.9022, and against the Loonie, it strengthened to C$ 1.3592.
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