U.S. dollar rises on mixed nonfarm payrolls

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

The U.S. Labor Department said on Friday that the total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 160,000 in April, far below the market-expected 200,000 and the slowest pace in seven months.

However, the unemployment rate remained unchanged from March at 5 percent and average hourly earnings for all employees increased 8 cents to 25.53 U.S. dollars in April.

According to analysts, with the unemployment rate staying at 5 percent, below its pre-recession average of 5.3 percent, fewer job gains would not be a top concern for Federal Reserve officials.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.19 percent at 93.956 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1394 dollars from 1.1398 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.4418 dollars from 1.4473 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7361 dollars from 0.7463 dollars.

The dollar bought 107.12 Japanese yen, lower than 107.25 yen of the previous session. The dollar climbed to 0.9720 Swiss francs from 0.9689 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.2938 Canadian dollars from 1.2854 Canadian dollars. Enditem