1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar falls on mixed jobs data

The U.S. dollar slipped against most major currencies on Friday as jobs data from the country turned out mixed.

U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday that nonfarm payroll employment of the country added 252,000 new jobs in December 2014, and the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 5.6 percent. Both readings beat analysts'estimates.

However, the jobs report showed a lack of acceleration in wage growth, as average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls declined by 5 cents in December.

The jobs data, analysts said, revealed a mixed picture of U.S. labor market, spurring speculation that the Federal Reserve would keep the current low interest rates longer.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.44 percent at 91.959 in late trading.

Meanwhile, U.S. wholesale inventories went up 0.8 percent in November, beating market expectations of a 0.3-percent gain, the Commerce Department said Friday.

In late New York trading, the euro moved up to 1.1843 dollars from 1.1784 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound rose to 1.5166 dollars from 1.5085 dollars. The Australian dollar went up to 0.8203 dollars from 0.8110 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 118.58 Japanese yen, lower than 119.67 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar went down to 1.0141 Swiss francs from 1.0193 Swiss francs, and it moved up to 1.1861 Canadian dollars from 1.1839 Canadian dollars. Endite