US dollar rises amid upbeat job data

The US dollar gained against most major currencies on Friday as the newly-released data showed stronger-than-expected job growth in the US.

Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 292,000 in December, beating market estimates of 200,000, and unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0 percent, the US Labour Department said on Friday.

Traders focused on the robust employment data, the first jobs report since the US Federal Reserve's mid-December decision to raise its interest rates, Xinhua news agency reported.

The upbeat report suggests that a recent manufacturing-led slowdown in economic growth would be temporary, according to the Reuters.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers,was up 0.3 percent at 98.503 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro lost to $1.0902 from $1.0925 of the previous session, and the British pound decreased to $1.4522 from $1.4617. The Australian dollar went down to $0.6984 from $0.7001.

The dollar bought 117.67 Japanese yen, higher than 117.54 yen of the previous session. The greenback moved up to 0.9955 Swiss franc from 0.9933 Swiss franc, and moved up to 1.4138 Canadian dollars from 1.4086 Canadian dollars.