Dollar firms on expectations of higher US rates

Tokyo - The dollar held firm against other currencies on Friday, after an upbeat US jobs report added to the chances the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates, even as global peers stick to easy money policies.

The greenback was at ¥120.52 in Tokyo trade, little changed from ¥120.59 in New York late on Thursday but well up from ¥120.28 in Tokyo earlier on Thursday.

The US Labour Department reported Thursday that the number of first-time unemployment claims filed in the past four weeks had fallen to a nearly 15-year low, suggesting a stronger labour market.

The robust data stoked speculation about the Federal Reserve's plan to raise interest rates for the first time in nine years.

"We're moving back to a rate-differential story," Mike Moran, head of macro research for the Americas at Standard Chartered, told Bloomberg News.

"The dollar correction of the last couple of weeks is starting to run its course."

The euro bought $1.0678 and ¥128.70 on Friday, slightly up from $1.0659 and ¥128.55 in US trade, after Greece honoured a loan payment due Thursday.

Greece made a scheduled €459m repayment to the IMF but failed to dispel market concerns over its solvency as it labours to reach a deal with creditors to reform its bailout.

Athens has until the end of April to come to an agreement with its lenders.

Later this month, it has to make interest payments of nearly €400m, and roll over €2.4bn in six- and three-month sovereign bills due to mature on April 14 and 17. Failure to do so would see it default and likely end up crashing out of the eurozone.

The dollar was mixed against other Asia-Pacific currencies.

It rose to Sg$1.3593 from Sg$1.3561 on Thursday, to 62.41 Indian rupees from 62.24 rupees, to Tw$31.15 from Tw$31.11, to 1 093.40 South Korean won from 1 092.15 won, and to 44.49 Philippine pesos from 44.47 pesos.

The dollar edged down to 12 913.00 Indonesian rupiah from 12 917.50 rupiah, and to 32.53 Thai baht from 32.54 baht.

The Australian dollar rose to 77.02 US cents from 76.89c, while the Chinese yuan inched up to ¥19.41 from ¥19.39.