Investing.com - The dollar was broadly higher against a basket of other major currencies on Tuesday, as the greenback recovered from sharp losses posted after Friday's disappointing U.S. employment report.
The dollar had come under broad selling pressure after the Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 126,000 new jobs in March, less than half of February’s gain and the smallest increase since December 2013.
The report added to doubts over the strength of the economic recovery, prompting investors to push back expectations for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve to the end of the year from midyear.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.57% to 97.76.
EUR/USD retreated 0.60% to 1.0857.
Market research group Markit earlier reported that the euro zone's services purchasing managers' index slipped to 54.2 last month, from 54.3 in February. Analysts had expected the index to remain unchanged.
The pound held steady, with GBP/USD at 1.4875 even as data showed that U.K. service sector activity expanded at the fastest rate in seven months in March.
Markit said the U.K. services PMI increased to 58.9 last month from a reading of 56.7 in February. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 57.0 in March.
Elsewhere, the dollar was higher against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY rising 0.29% to 119.88 and with USD/CHF up 0.38% to 0.9624.
The Australian was sharply higher, with AUD/USD rallying 1.20% at 0.7683 after the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that retail sales rose 0.7% in February, exceeding expectations for a 0.4% gain. January's figure was revised to a 0.5% increase from a previously estimated 0.4% uptick.
In addition, the Reserve Bank of Australia held its benchmark interest rate at 2.25% on Tuesday, in a widely expected decision.
Meanwhile, NZD/USD was little changed at 0.7548 and USD/CAD held steady at 1.2478.