NEW YORK: The dollar rose on Thursday after stronger-than-expected US jobs data that suggested an improving labour market, reinforcing signs that the world's largest economy was on its way to a steady path to recovery from the pandemic.
The greenback was already on solid footing ahead of the economic reports, as currency investors bet that Thursday's US data will come out better than market forecasts.
US private payrolls increased by 978,000 jobs in May, the ADP National Employment Report showed, the biggest increase since June 2020. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private payrolls would increase by 650,000 jobs.
In midmorning trading, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.5% to 90.386. It found strong support around the 89.946 mark in recent sessions after falling 2% in April and a further 1.6% in May.
The euro, meanwhile, fell 0.5% against the dollar to $1.2143.
Against the yen, the dollar gained 0.5% to 110.10 yen.
In other currency news, Russia announced it would completely remove US dollar assets from its National Wealth Fund (NWF), while increasing the share of the euro, Chinese yuan and gold, according to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov on Thursday. The changes are expected within a month.
The move did not have any immediate impact on currencies.
Sterling was down 0.4% versus the dollar at $1.4108 on Thursday as investors fret a little about whether a new virus variant spreading in Britain can delay plans for reopening the economy.
Cryptocurrencies rose, with bitcoin last up 2.6% at $38,573, while ether was up 3% on the day at $2,794.
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