1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rallies on jobs report

The U.S. dollar rose against other major currencies on Friday as the country's robust nonfarm payroll report spurred market speculation that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates by mid-2015.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 257,000 in January, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 5.7 percent, the U. S. Labor Department said on Friday. The latest employment figure was well above market consensus of 230,000.

Moreover, the average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls in January increased by 12 cents to 24.75 U.S. dollars, following a decrease of 5 cents in December.

Analysts said the upward growth momentum of U.S. labor market may encourage the Fed to think about raising interest rates as early as mid-2015.

The greenback soared against all of its major peers during the session. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, was up 1.21 percent at 94.700 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro slipped to 1.1318 dollars from 1.1472 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound declined to 1.5232 dollars from 1.5332 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7792 dollars from 0.7804 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 119.14 Japanese yen, higher than 117.57 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar edged up to 0.9269 Swiss francs from 0.9229 Swiss francs, and it rose to 1.2530 Canadian dollars from 1.2442 Canadian dollars. Endite