1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar soars on upbeat nonfarm payrolls

The U.S. dollar rallied against other major currencies on Friday as another strong jobs report added to signs of steady improvement in the job market.

The U.S. economy added 295,000 jobs last month, up from a revised 239,000 gain in January, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent, the lowest level since May 2008, from 5.7 percent in the previous month, the Labor Department said on Friday.

Besides, the closely-watched average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 3 cents to 24.78 U.S. dollars. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.0 percent.

The broad job gains fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates earlier than anticipated. Policymakers have held rates close to zero for more than six years.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was up 1.26 percent at 97.595 in late trading, the highest level since September 2003.

Moreover, the euro hit the lowest level in nearly 12 years against the U.S. dollar as the European Central Bank moved closer to the launch of its 1.1 trillion euro quantitative easing program.

In late New York trading, the euro went down to 1.0858 dollars from 1.1027 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound declined to 1.5048 dollars from 1.5238 dollars. The Australian dollar dropped to 0.7720 dollars from 0.7774 dollars.

The dollar bought 120.69 Japanese yen, higher than 120.16 yen of the previous session. The dollar edged up to 0.9848 Swiss francs from 0.9747 Swiss francs, and it climbed to 1.2611 Canadian dollars from 1.2508 Canadian dollars. Endite