NEW YORK- TheUS dollar strengthened against major currencies after US data showing employers hired more workers than expected in September, suggesting the Federal Reserve will likely stick to its aggressive tightening policy for now.
The dollar reversed early losses against the Japanese yen and was last up 0.2 percent at 145.42 yen. The dollar hit a 24-year peak of 145.90 yen last month, which had prompted an intervention by Japanese authorities to shore up the fragile yen.
The euro fell against the dollar, extending losses after the US jobs report, and was last down 0.6 percent at $0.9735.
“Any sign of US economic weakness will weigh heavily on the dollar, but it certainly didn’t come with nonfarm payrolls,” said Adam Button, chief currency analyst at ForexLive in Toronto.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 263,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said in its closely watched employment report. Data for August was unrevised to show 315,000 jobs added as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 250,000 job gains, with estimates ranging from as low as 127,000 to as high as 375,000.
Overnight, a number of Fed officials reinforced the view that the central bank is nowhere near finished with raising rates as it seeks to tame inflation, and interest rates are expected to go up further.
US inflation data, due next week, will be watched closely as well and could prove influential in setting investors’ expectations for the Fed, according to strategists.
The US central bank, in an effort to tame inflation, has hiked its policy rate from near-zero at the beginning of this year to the current range of 3.00 percent to 3.25 percent, and last month signaled more large increases were on the way this year.
