U.S. Dollar Extends Fall After Jobs Data

The U.S. dollar extended decline against its most major counterparts in the New York session on Friday, as jobs data showed a slowdown in wage growth and a rise in unemployment rate in June.

Data from the Labor Department showed that non-farm payroll employment shot up by 206,000 jobs in June compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 190,000 jobs.

However, the report also said increases in employment in April and May were downwardly revised to 108,000 jobs and 218,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net downward revision of 111,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate also rose for the third straight month, inching up to 4.1 percent in June from 4.0 percent in May. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.

While the report also said average hourly employee earnings rose by $0.10 or 0.3 percent to $35, the annual rate of growth slowed to 3.9 percent in June from 4.1 percent in May.

The greenback declined to more than 3-week lows of 1.0842 against the euro and 1.2814 against the pound, off its early highs of 1.0794 and 1.2752, respectively.

The greenback fell to a fresh 6-month low of 0.6752 against the aussie and a fresh 2-week low of 0.6142 against the kiwi, down from its early highs of 0.6709 and 0.6106, respectively.

The greenback touched 0.8969 against the franc, setting an 8-day low.

The currency is seen finding support around 1.10 against the euro, 1.31 against the pound, 0.69 against the aussie, 0.63 against the kiwi and 0.88 against the franc.