The dollar climbed to three-week highs against the euro and sterling on Monday on the back of last week's strong US jobs data, while the yen fell as China remained silent about its plans for the yuan. The employment figures calmed some concerns about the US economy and strengthened expectations for further interest rates hikes in the US Meanwhile, China's silence dampened speculation that Beijing might soon revalue its fixed currency. "The payrolls support for the dollar is still there," said Shahab Jalinoos, senior currency strategist at ABN Amro in London. "And there is also some disappointment that China did not revalue."
At 1200 GMT the dollar traded steady on the day at $1.2826, compared with $1.2766 in mid-April and the three-week high of $1.2790 set earlier in the session.
It was half a percent up at 105.60 yen and stronger versus the British pound, after hitting a three-week high of $1.8818 against sterling. The euro was up half a percent against the yen at 135.45 yen.
Sterling lost ground broadly after data showed British manufacturing fell at its fastest rate in nearly three years in March.
The Bank of England held interest rates unchanged at 4.75 percent, as expected, amid signs of weakness in the economy. However, producer price data also showed prices rising faster than expected.
"The data is quite negative for sterling," said Ian Stannard, currency strategist at BNP Paribas. "Manufacturing is much worse than expected. And on top of that PPI data suggests that inflationary pressures are building as well."
"This is not good for sterling and highlights the policy dilemma faced by the BoE. The UK economy is now hitting a brick wall," he said.
The hefty 274,000 increase in US non-farm jobs in April eased concerns an economic slowdown would prompt the Federal Reserve to pause its monetary tightening campaign.
German industry output figures on Monday showed a deeper fall than expected of 0.8 percent on the month in March.
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