US Dollar Index closes down at a one week low near 80.7

The US Dollar Index closed Friday’s session back under the 81 mark, after spending a week above that marker, but the Index remains above the 80.50 level, an area that has offered a little bit of support.

Latest Dollar Index Rate

The ICE US Dollar Index closed Friday’s session at 80.758 on the ICE Futures Exchange. Meanwhile, the dollar/euro remains flat in currency trading with one US dollar buying 0.73360 euro. Sterling extended its gains against the US dollar as the trading session wore on, climbing half a percent to $1.6412, its best level of this week.

US Unemployment

The dollar drifted lower after a weaker US jobs report on Friday but is seen as unlikely to dissuade the US Federal Reserve from diverting from its path of steadily removing monetary stimulus from the US economy, possibly sooner, rather that later.

“I think the market reaction to today’s number is based upon a more pessimistic reading of the economy than I think is justified and therefore the market expectations that the Fed may not now taper in March may be less justified than the market thinks it is,” said David Woo, head of global rates and currency research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, leading to the dollar’s decline.

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US Dollar Index closes down at a one week low near 80.7