Dollar lower on better-than-expected jobs report; Greek parliament approves austerity plan

Dollar lower on better-than-expected jobs report

NEW YORK — Investors dumped the dollar for riskier assets Friday after a U.S. employment report showed fewer jobs were cut in February than expected.

The euro found some support as the Greek parliament approved new spending cuts and taxes aimed at defusing the country’s debt crisis.

In late New York trading, the 16-nation euro climbed to $1.3624 from $1.3576 it bought late Thursday. The euro had risen above $1.37 Wednesday for the first time since mid-February as European officials and a credit ratings agency applauded Greece’s attempts to reel in its budget deficit.

Greece, whose financial troubles have shaken the European Union and its shared euro currency, this week announced an austerity package and held a successful bond sale. The legislation was approved Friday as protestors clashed with riot police in the streets outside parliament.

Prime Minister George Papandreou insists Greece is not seeking bailout money, and European leaders said Friday they are not offering financial support but are calling for an end to market speculation that the indebted country will default.

Meanwhile, investors found some comfort in news that the U.S. unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent in February as employers shed 36,000 jobs, fewer than expected.

“Although the knee-jerk reaction was to buy (U.S. dollars) on a positive number, the concern over the Greek debt crisis kept action in the (euro) and (dollar) muted,” Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon Corp., wrote in a note to investors. “This report was clearly a positive for both the U.S. economic outlook as well as risk appetite.”

The dollar’s movement will likely be driven more by European news than by U.S. economic data in the coming week as investors treat the dollar as the “anti-euro currency,” Woolfolk said.

In other late trading Friday, the British pound rose to $1.5157 from $1.5029 late Thursday, while the dollar inched up to 90.38 Japanese yen from 89.10 yen. The dollar slipped to 1.0742 Swiss francs from 1.0775 francs, and dropped to 1.0295 Canadian dollars from 1.0312.