U.S. dollar falls after nonfarm payrolls

The U.S. dollar declined against most major currencies on Monday after the release of nonfarm payroll report from the country.

The Labor Department said on Friday that total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 178,000 in November, and the jobless rate went down from October' s 4.9 percent to 4.6 percent, the lowest level in nine years.

But the report was not all positive. The Department revised up the job gains in September to 208,000, but revised down the job gains in October. The combined employment gains in these two months were 2,000 less than previously reported. Moreover, average hourly earnings for all employees declined by 3 cents to 25.89 U.S. dollars, following an 11-cent increase in October.

Analysts said the nonfarm payrolls were solid but not spectacular, which bolstered market speculation for a rate-increase in December but spurred doubts about the rate-hikes in 2017.

Meanwhile, the euro rebounded over 1 percent against the greenback on Monday after Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's loss in Sunday' s constitutional reform referendum, which was largely seen as expected and recent euro weakness was seen as overreacted.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.75 percent at 100.020 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0775 dollars from 1.0659 dollars, and the British pound climbed to 1.2724 dollars from 1.2712 dollars. The Australian dollar increased to 0.7481 dollars from 0.7447 dollars.

The dollar bought 113.75 Japanese yen, higher than 113.74 yen in the previous session. The dollar inched down to 1.0061 Swiss francs from 1.0108 Swiss francs, and it slipped to 1.3254 Canadian dollars from 1.3290 Canadian dollars. Enditem