Dollar Rallies on Job Data

The U.S. dollar climbed against major currencies in late New York trading on Friday as U.S. unemployment rate dropped.

The unemployment rate fell to 9 percent from 9.4 percent in December, beating most analysts' expectation of a rise to 9.5 percent.

However, the Labor Department reported the economy only added 36,000 jobs in January, failing the economists' prediction of adding 140,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls.

The dollar index surged to near 78.20 in late trading session on Friday.

The euro fell to below 1.36 against the dollar on Friday, after the European Central Bank signaled that it would not raise interest rates soon a day ago.

In late Friday trading, the dollar bought 82.24 yen, comparing with 81.63 late Thursday, and the euro fell to 1.3587 dollars from 1.3639.

The British pound also fell to 1.6098 dollars from 1.6148. The dollar rose from 0.9450 to 0.9555 against Swiss francs, but fell to 0.9881 Canadian dollars from 0.9902.