Dollar slumps to fresh low against euro

The dollar struck a new all-time low against the euro on Friday as technical factors offset positive United States jobs data, dealers said.

In European trade, the euro rose to a record $1,4525. It later fell back to $1,4484, compared with $1,4422 in New York late on Thursday.

Standard Chartered analyst Marios Maratheftis said the euro fell immediately following the stronger-than-expected US employment data.

However, when traders saw that the currency had not fallen by as much as they wished, they decided to buy it back, which in turn caused the dollar to tumble, he said.

“The [US] numbers were good, but if you put in a position [in the market] and then you see it’s not really going anywhere on the back of those numbers, then you would rush to take this position off,” Maratheftis said.

US employers added a better-than-expected 166 000 jobs in October, the US government said on Friday in a sign that much of the economy is holding firm despite housing and credit woes.

October’s job growth caught most Wall Street analysts off guard and was more than double what most had anticipated.

The unemployment rate held steady at 4,7%, the report said.—AFP