The US dollar slipped against a basket of major currencies on Thursday after US jobs data lagged expectations, pushing out bets for a Federal Reserve rate hike to 2016, while caution ahead of this weekend's Greek referendum limited losses.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 223,000 last month, the Labour Department said. Adding to the report's soft note, April and May data was revised to show 60,000 fewer jobs were added than previously reported. While the unemployment rate fell two-tenths of a percentage point to 5.3 percent, the labour force participation rate fell to the weakest since October 1977.
"The numbers overall were disappointing, and it calls into question the September rate increase and maybe even the December," said Chris Gaffney, president of EverBank World Markets in St. Louis, in reference to the date the Fed is expected to hike rates.
While the dollar fell from a nearly one-week high against the yen, a five-week high against the Swiss franc, and a 3-1/2-week high against a basket of six major currencies, the losses were limited and the greenback remained above Wednesday's session lows.
The euro was last up 0.31 percent against the dollar at $1.10870 after hitting a session high of $1.11220 after the jobs data. The dollar was last down 0.08 percent against the yen at 123.055 yen after hitting a session low of 122.970 yen.
The dollar was 0.47 percent lower against the Swiss franc at 0.94355 franc after hitting a session low of 0.94205 franc.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was last down 0.26 percent at 96.054.
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