U.S. dollar firms amid strong jobs data

NEW YORK, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar rallied against most major currencies Friday, as jobs data from the country came out positive.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, ticked up 0.11 percent at 93.898 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro decreased to 1.1768 U.S. dollars from 1.1783 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound lost to 1.3399 dollars from 1.3474 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar lost to 0.7503 dollar from 0.7518 dollar.

The dollar bought 113.53 Japanese yen, higher than 113.01 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar lost to 0.9925 Swiss franc from 0.9934 Swiss franc, and it was up to 1.2871 Canadian dollars from 1.2851 Canadian dollars.

The U.S. Labor Department reported Friday that total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 228,000 in November, beating market consensus of a 190,000-gain. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent.

Analysts said the upbeat jobs report bolstered market speculation that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates in its December meeting next week.

"From the Fed's perspective, there is nothing here likely to prevent a rate hike next week, but because a hike was nearly fully priced in anyway, it should not change expectations," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, investors also kept an eye on the progress of the U.S. tax reform. Analysts said it seemed it's just a matter of time before the final bill reaches President Donald Trump for final approval, despite the Senate and House of Representative have differences on the tax bill. Enditem