NEW YORK: The dollar fell on Friday after US non-farm payrolls data showed hiring increased in May as the pandemic eased, but not quite as much as expected, tempering expectations the Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy sooner, rather than later.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 559,000 jobs last month, helped by higher Covid-19 vaccination rates, while the unemployment rate fell to 5.8% from 6.1% in April, when the jobs report came in well below expectations.
At 9:20 ET, the dollar index was down 0.403% at 90.114, dropping from a three-week high earlier in the session.
Overnight implied dollar/yen volatility shot up to a month high above 8% on Thursday and euro/dollar implied volatility hit its highest since mid-March.
The Australian dollar, which had dropped to its lowest since April on Thursday, jumped 0.78% to 0.77205, while the New Zealand dollar was up 0.64% at 0.71905.
The Japanese yen slid 0.53%, changing hands at 109.715 versus the dollar.
China’s yuan softened past the 6.40 level, having shrunk away from its three-year highs when China’s central bank moved to limit the currency’s gains earlier this week.
Cryptocurrencies fell after a tweet from Tesla boss Elon Musk appeared to lament a breakup with bitcoin.
Tesla’s big position in bitcoin and Musk’s large personal following often set crypto markets on edge whenever he tweets.
Both bitcoin and ether, the two biggest cryptocurrencies, were down around 6.4%, with bitcoin at around $36,700, and ether at around $2,640.
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