TOKYO- The dollar steadied in holiday-thinned trade on Monday after US jobs data showed job growth slowed further in August, while traders shifted their focus to the European Central Bank’s meeting on Thursday.
The US Labor Department report on Friday showed that US employment growth slowed and permanent job losses increased as government funding started running out, raising doubts on the sustainability of the economy’s recovery. Still, the jobless rate fell to 8.4 percent from 10.2 percent in July.
In the immediate aftermath, the greenback rallied to its highest in a week at 93.242 against a basket of six major currencies on safe-haven buying, but later retraced its gains as US stock indexes recovered.
The dollar index was little changed on Monday at 92.846. Foreign exchange trading was likely to be subdued as US financial markets are closed for the Labor Day holiday.
“The jobs data which showed a decline in the unemployment rate, and a rise in US Treasury yields, are supporting the dollar today,” said Masafumi Yamamito, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities.
“However, what’s weighing on the currency is a huge drop in US stocks (last week).”
The S&P 500 fell 2.3 percent last week after five consecutive weeks of gains.