The US dollar was slightly lower against other major currencies on Monday (12/3). After Friday's jobs report (9/3) in the US sparked expectations for a faster rate hike by the Federal Reserve this year.
The US dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was at 89.94 at 14:13 (14:13 GMT), or had a 0.13% decline. The Labor Department reported on Friday that the US economy added 313,000 jobs in February, but the average hourly income rose just 0.1%.
Average hourly earnings decreased from a 0.3 percent rise in January, lowering the increase in average revenue on an annual basis to 2.6 percent from 2.8 percent in January.
Strong job growth boosted risk appetite, while a slowdown in wage growth reduced expectations of four-cal exchange rate hikes by the Fed this year. The negative movements of the US dollar tend to become more attractive to investors as borrowing costs rise.
A senior Western Union Business Solutions analyst in Washington, Joe Manimbo, said that data on the labor market that tended to be mixed in the past week has diminished market confidence over the Fed's rate hike this year in more than three times.
It is considered Manimbo caused by wage growth that does not rise above 3%, which will make the Fed rate will increase faster and provide support to the US dollar.