Investing.com - The dollar remained supported against the other major currencies on Monday after Friday’s solid U.S. jobs report for July reinforced expectations for higher interest rates.
The dollar pushed higher against the yen, with USD/JPY edging up 0.14% to 124.43 from 124.26 late Friday.
The U.S. economy added 215,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday, slightly lower than forecasts for an increase of 223,000, but still consistent with strong employment growth.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.3%, in line with expectations.
Hourly earnings, a component of the jobs report that the Federal Reserve has said must rise, ticked up 0.2%, also matching forecasts after stalling in the previous month.
In the past three months the dollar has been boosted by investor expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise short term interest rates in the coming months, possibly as early as September.
Investor sentiment remained cautious after weak economic reports out of China over the weekend fueled worries over a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.
Data on Saturday showed that Chinese exports dropped 8.3% in July, their biggest fall in four months.
Another report on Sunday showed that Chinese producer prices fell to a six-year low in July.
The euro inched higher, with EUR/USD edging up 0.13% to 1.0977 from 1.0963 late Friday.
The single currency was boosted by reports that Greece is moving closer to a full agreement on a bailout deal with its international creditors.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was firm at 97.61.