NEW YORK :The U.S. dollar gained ground against major currencies including the yen and Swiss franc on Tuesday after data showed a better-than-expected increase in labor market demand, indicating the Federal Reserve will likely take its time to cut interest rates.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that the central bank plans to wait for more data before it starts monetary policy easing, but he didn’t rule out a July start. Powell spoke at a central banking conference in Portugal.
The dollar pared losses against the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc after Labor Department data showed that job openings rose 374,000 to 7.769 million in May.
The dollar weakened 0.33 per cent to 143.53 against the yen and was down 0.09 per cent to 0.7925 versus the Swiss franc, compared with a drop of 0.46 per cent and 0.28 per cent respectively before the data. The euro was last down 0.06 per cent at $1.178150 after being up 0.05 per cent earlier in the day.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.09 per cent at 96.84 after being down 0.05 per cent to 96.71.
