Dollar closes third week followed by increases after solid US employment data

The dollar rose on a slow day on Friday and closed its third weekly rise after data showed that the world’s largest economy created more jobs than expected in March, which which suggests that the recovery path from the pandemic is firm.

* Financial markets were closed in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Great Britain, Europe and the United States for the Good Friday holiday.

* Data on Friday showed US nonfarm payrolls grew by 916,000 last month, the biggest increase since August. Data for February was revised up to show the creation of 468,000 jobs instead of the 379,000 previously reported.

* Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a rise of 647,000 jobs in March.

* “The overall strength of the labor market is likely to be positive for the dollar,” said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst, at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington.

* “The hiring explosion showed that the economy is making some of the ‘substantial additional breakthroughs’ that the Federal Reserve wants to see before moving away from its low-rate policies.”

* Confidence in the dollar has improved in recent weeks and U.S. Treasury yields have skyrocketed as President Joe Biden’s government-planned stimulus of more than $ 2 trillion and the rapid roll-out of The COVID-19 vaccine fueled optimism about growth and fear of inflation.

* Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were 1.717% higher, almost 4 basis points higher than the previous session.

* The dollar index rose 0.1% to 93.025, with gains in five of the last six weeks.

* The dollar’s rise to multi-month highs is likely to continue as more investors bet on the economic recovery.

* The dollar was up 0.1% against the yen to stand at 110.67 yen, not far from its one-year high, just below 111 yen.

* The euro, meanwhile, fell 0.2% to $ 1.1777.