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Dollar rises on upbeat jobs data

Dollar rises on upbeat jobs data

Write: Aina [2011-12-04]

Dollar rises on upbeat jobs dataU.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) speaks during a news conference on jobs on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, Dec. 2, 2011. U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 8.6 percent in November, the lowest since March 2009, the Labor Department said Friday. [Xinhua]

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

The U.S. Labor Department said 120,000 new jobs were added to the economy in November and U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 8.6 percent from 9 percent. The upbeat data helped to convince investors that the U.S. jobs market was improving.

The dollar index rose 0.36 percent to 78.61 on Friday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday said that the summit of European leaders next week would focus on quick treaty changes aimed at tightening fiscal ties across the 17-nation euro zone.

Also, it is reported that Germany and France promised to push for a closer fiscal union in the euro zone. However, the news failed to boost the euro as the shared currency dipped 0.45 percent against the dollar on Friday.

In late Friday trading, the dollar bought 78.03 Japanese yen, comparing with 77.76 from late Thursday. The euro fell to 1.3406 dollars from 1.3460.

The British pound also fell to 1.5598 dollars from 1.5689. The dollar rose from 0.9164 Swiss francs to 0.9208, and rose to 1.0178 Canadian dollars from 1.0150.