Early trade in New York: Dollar steadies after US jobs-related losses

NEW YORK: The dollar was flat to slightly lower on Monday in choppy trading, holding its ground against a basket of major currencies after falling sharply on worse-than-expected US jobs data last week, as investors continued to price in faster US recovery than most countries.

The dollar index was at 90.982, flat on the day. On Friday, it fell as low as 90.981 after data showed the US economy created fewer jobs than expected in January and job losses in December were greater than initially reported.

The euro was modestly up at $1.2057 against the dollar.

Sentix’s investor sentiment index for the euro zone fell back into negative territory, dropping to -0.2 from 1.3 in January. A Reuters poll had pointed to a reading of 1.9.

The British pound bought $1.3686, 0.3% lower to the dollar.

The dollar was quoted at 105.62 yen, having pulled back from a three-month high reached on Friday.

In the cryptocurrency market, bitcoin hit another record high of $44,899 after Tesla Inc said on Monday it had invested around $1.5 billion in the virtual currency and expects to begin accepting payment for its cars and other products with it in the near future..

Bitcoin was last up 12.7% at 43,736.

Ethereum hit a fresh record high of $1,764.55 after the listing of ethereum futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange late Sunday. It was last up 6% at $1,712.52.