NEW YORK, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar firmed in late trading on Friday, as the U.S. job growth accelerated in November while the unemployment rate fell.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, rose 0.45 percent to 104.0105 in late trading.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 199,000 jobs last month after rising by 150,000 in October, the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent in November from 3.9 percent, while November's average hourly earnings figures registered a better-than-expected month-on-month increase of 0.4 percent.
"This was a relatively healthy report and will help to push back some of the excitement around imminent and aggressive rate cuts," said Richard de Chazal, macro analyst at William Blair in London. U.S. bond yields rose after the report, with rates for 2-year, 5-year and 10-year bonds rising to 4.72 percent, 4.24 percent, and 4.23 percent, respectively.
However, the employment report did not change views that the Federal Reserve's rate-hiking cycle was complete. As per the CME FedWatch Tool, the market expects no rate hike in the December Fed meeting but anticipates less easing in 2024.
In the eurozone, the German consumer price index (CPI) for November was 3.2 percent higher than the same month a year earlier but down by 0.4 percentage points compared to October 2023. In late New York trading, the euro was down to 1.0758 U.S. dollars from 1.0798 U.S. dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was down to 1.2549 U.S. dollars from 1.2591 U.S. dollars in the previous session.
The U.S. dollar bought 144.9790 Japanese yen, higher than 143.4850 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar was up to 0.8804 Swiss francs from 0.8745 Swiss francs, and it was down to 1.3584 Canadian dollars from 1.3595 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar was up to 10.4714 Swedish kronor from 10.3816 Swedish kronor.
