Dollar Rises on Weak U.S. Job Data

The dollar rose against most major currencies on Thursday as a weaker-than-expected U.S. non-farm payroll report boosted safety demand for the U.S. currency.

U.S. non-farm payroll employment declined in June by 467,000 jobs, according to a U.S. Labor Department report released on Thursday. The unemployment rose slightly from 7.4 percent to 7.5 percent.

Job losses were widespread across the major industry sectors, with large declines occurring in manufacturing, professional and business services, and construction, the report said. Manufacturing employment fell less steeply than in recent months, though it still showed heavy loss.

The main piece of good news in the report was that the unemployment rate only rose by a tenth of a percent, said analysts of Global Insight. But the damaging effect of rising unemployment on wages was evident in hourly earnings, which were flat on the month, hurting consumer buying power.

One month ago, a better-than-expected report on non-farm employment in May has boosted hopes on economic recovery. But the latest report underlined that it will take much longer for the labor market to bottom out than for GDP and industrial production.

The European Central Bank kept its key rate at a record low of 1 percent unchanged on its monetary policy meeting on Thursday. A statement of the bank commented that current interest rates in the euro zone are at an "appropriate" level. The decision, which was in line with expectations, showed little impact on currency trading.

The euro bought 1.4022 dollars in late New York trading compared with 1.4148 dollars it bought late Wednesday. The pound fell to 1.6415 dollars from 1.6474 dollars.

The dollar rose to 1.1614 Canadian dollars from 1.1490 Canadian dollars, and rose to 1.0827 Swiss francs from 1.0747 Swiss francs. It fell to 95.84 Japanese yen from 96.52 Japanese yen.