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

The U.S. dollar decreased against most major currencies on Friday as the closely-watched nonfarm payroll report came out mixed.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 242,000 in February, topping market expectations, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent, the U.S. Labor Department announced Friday.

However, in February, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls declined 3 cents to 25.35 U.S. dollars, following an increase of 12 cents in January.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.25 percent at 97.352 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0995 dollars from 1.0955 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.4213 dollars from 1.4165 dollars. The Australian dollar went up to 0.7426 dollars from 0.7356 dollars.

The dollar bought 114.03 Japanese yen, higher than 113.62 yen of the previous session. The dollar increased to 0.9950 Swiss francs from 0.9910 Swiss francs, and it inched down to 1.3328 Canadian dollars from 1.3404 Canadian dollars. Enditem