Investing.com - The dollar climbed against the other major currencies on Monday, as Friday's strong U.S. jobs data fuelled further expectations for a December rate hike by the Federal Reserve, boosting demand for the greenback.
USD/JPY rose 0.26% to 123.44.
The dollar strengthened broadly after the Labor Department reported on Friday that the U.S. economy added 211,000 jobs last month, after increasing an upwardly revised 298,000 in October.
The unemployment rate held steady at 5% in November. Economists had forecast jobs growth of 200,000 and no change in the unemployment rate.
The report hardened expectations that the Fed will hike interest rates for the first time since 2006 at its upcoming meeting on December 15-16. Higher U.S. interest rates would make the dollar more attractive to yield-seeking investors.
EUR/USD dropped 0.65% to 1.0810, off Thursday’s highs of 1.0980.
Sentiment on the euro remained vulnerable after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Friday the ECB would step up stimulus measures if necessary to bring inflation back to target.
The remarks came one day after the euro posted its largest one-day gain against the dollar in more than six years, jumping 3% after the latest easing measures announced by the ECB fell short of market expectations.
Elsewhere, the dollar was higher against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD down 0.27% at 1.5070 and with USD/CHF climbing 0.55% to 1.0022.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.50% to 0.7304 and with NZD/USD tumbling 1.16% to 0.6668.
Data earlier showed that job advertisements in Australia increased by 1.3% in November, after a 0.3% uptick the previous month.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD advanced 0.54% to trade at 1.3435.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.55% at 98.81.