Dollar Rises Ahead Of Eurogroup Meeting

The dollar advanced modestly against rivals on Monday, as investors took another look at Friday’s U.S. jobs data ahead of a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers set for later in the global trading day.

The ICE dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, reached 79.477 on Monday, from 79.350 in late North American trading on Friday.

The dollar ended Friday with a small loss, after the U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped below 8% and the economy added more jobs than previously reported in prior months. Read: Dollar pares losses after good jobs report

“After the initial knee-jerk rally in risk in response to the decline in the U.S. unemployment rate on Friday, risk assets gave up their gains and sold off into the North American close, extending into Asian trading to start the week,” said Sue Trinh, strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

“The reaction is consistent with our take on the payrolls report — don’t read too much into the fall in the unemployment rate since it was driven by an increase in part-time employment, private payrolls growth remains lackluster, and real wage growth remains flat,” she said.

The euro slipped to $1.2992 from $1.3031 in late North American trading at the end of last week.

Ahead of a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers set for later in the global trading day, uncertainty continued over whether Spain will request a bailout.

“Today’s Eurogroup meeting is likely to be dominated by discussions surrounding Greece, Spain and Cyprus but we are not expecting any meaningful conclusions to be announced this time,” said Trinh at RBC.

Against the Japanese yen , the dollar reached ¥78.55, from ¥78.64 in late trading on Friday.

The British pound  reached $1.6111 from $1.6141 while the Australian dollar   traded at $1.0162 from $1.0176.

Marketwatch