U.S. Dollar Lower As Soft Jobs Data Lifts Rate Cut Hopes

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar fell against its major counterparts in the New York session on Friday, as weaker-than-expected jobs data for April boosted hopes of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September.

Data from the Labor Department showed that non-farm payroll employment climbed by 175,000 jobs in April after surging by an upwardly revised 315,000 jobs in March.

Economists had expected employment to jump by 243,000 jobs compared to the spike of 303,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The report also showed the unemployment rate crept up to 3.9 percent in April from 3.8 percent in March. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged.

Treasury yields have shown a steep drop following the release of the report, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note tumbling to 4.5 percent.

The report raised hopes that Fed will deliver two rate cuts this year, with the initial cut occurring in September.

The greenback fell to more than 3-week lows of 151.85 against the yen, 1.0812 against the euro and 1.2634 against the pound, from yesterday's closing values of 153.56, 1.0725 and 1.2534, respectively. The greenback is seen finding support around 147.00 against the yen, 1.10 against the euro and 1.27 against the pound.

The greenback dropped to more than 3-week lows of 1.3605 against the loonie and 0.6048 against the kiwi, from Thursday's close of 1.3673 and 0.5961, respectively. The currency may locate support around 1.34 against the loonie and 0.62 against the kiwi.

The greenback touched 0.9005 against the franc, its lowest level since April 8. At Thursday's close, the pair was valued at 0.9106. If the currency falls further, it is likely to test support around the 0.90 region.

The greenback moved down to near a 2-month low of 0.6647 against the aussie from yesterday's close of 0.6565. The greenback is likely to find support around the 0.68 level.