Dollar slides, traders disappointed with US job data

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2005

LONDON (AFP) — The dollar fell sharply against the euro here as traders determined that a report on US job creation in February was unlikely to induce the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates more aggressively.

The single European currency in late-day deals was at 1.3244 dollars against 1.3108 late Thursday in New York.

The dollar was meanwhile trading at 104.45 yen after 105.26 on Thursday.

While official figures showed that the US economy created 262,000 jobs in February, beating expectations of 221,000, the performance was not seen as sufficiently robust to spark aggressive monetary policy action by the Fed.

"It was a decent report but not as strong as the market had been hoping for," said Neil Mackinnon, chief economist at ECU Group.

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