U.S. Dollar Trades Higher After Upbeat Jobs Data

Chicago (Dec 6)  The U.S. dollar traded higher on Friday as upbeat data on labor market added to signs of economic recovery.

The report from the Labor Department showed that non-farm payroll employment rose by 203,000 jobs in November following a revised increase of 200,000 jobs in October.

Economists had been expecting employment to increase by about 180,000 jobs compared to the addition of 204,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

With the stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate pulled back to 7.0 percent in November from 7.3 percent in October.

The greenback reached a 2-day high of 102.80 against the yen from yesterday's close of 101.70. If the greenback rises further, it may face resistance around the 103.5 level.

The greenback hit an 8-day high of 1.6294 against the pound, up from Thursday's close of 1.6337. On the upside, the greenback may seek resistance at the 1.62 area.

The greenback strengthened to 1.3621 versus the euro, compared to yesterday's close of 1.3669. Further gains is likely to lead the greenback to find resistance at the 1.355 region.

The greenback bounced off to 0.8983 against the franc from an early multi-week low of 0.8944. The pair ended trading at 0.8965 on Thursday.