WASHINGTON/LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. dollar remained mostly steady in subdued trade after a May non-farm payrolls report on Friday showed employment rose but unemployment also rose.
The report showed that public and private sector payrolls increased by 339,000 in May, beating previous expectations. Economists polled by Reuters expected non-farm payrolls to rise 190,000 in May, from April’s 253,000 increase.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency against six others, finally rose 0.203% to 103.730.
Before the U.S. Labor Department released data, the dollar headed for its biggest weekly drop since mid-January on Friday as investors watched the Federal Reserve hold off on raising interest rates this month, which will reduce the appeal of the greenback. to non-US buyers.
Currency markets are pricing in a roughly 29% chance of a June hike, up from nearly 70% earlier in the week.
The euro was unchanged at $1.0762, hovering near its highest in around a week, thanks to an improvement on Thursday from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, who said further tightening of policy required.
Reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington and Amanda Cooper in London; Additional reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe in London and Kevin Buckland in Tokyo Editing by Mark Heinrich, Mark Potter, Andrew Heavens and Emelia Sithole-Matarise
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