U.S. dollar loses despite solid labor, service data

NEW YORK, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar weakened on Thursday as it failed to beat resistance despite the labor market and service sector remaining on solid ground.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.20 percent to 103.1636 in late trading.

Data published by Automatic Data Processing (ADP) showed private sector employment in the United States rose by 497,000 in June, much higher than forecast consensus of 235,000 and 267,000 in the previous month.

U.S. service purchasing managers' index (PMI) increased to 53.9 in June, up from 50.3 in May, and the employment index rose to 53.1 from 49.2, showing an increase in the service sector payrolls, according to data issued by the Institute for Supply Management on Thursday.

However, the number of job openings in May stood at 9.8 million, which is below the market expectation of 9.93 million, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) unveiled on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Americans voluntarily left 4 million jobs in May, the Labor Department said Thursday. That marked a drop of around 500,000 from 4.5 million in November 2021, the highest level in Labor Department records back to 2000. A slowdown in voluntary departures can indicate a softening labor market if it reflects employers' easing demand for workers, economists said.

"There's just a lot of uncertainty right now in terms of how strong the economy is and what the Fed might have to do to try to deal with inflation pressures," said James Ragan, director of wealth management research at D.A. Davidson.

The dollar eased after a brief rebound in the morning.

U.S. Dollar Index continues its attempts to settle above the resistance at 103.25 to 103.45 as traders react to economic reports from the United States, noted Vladimir Zernov, analyst with market information supplier FX Empire.

In late New York trading, the euro increased to 1.0881 dollars from 1.0853 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was up to 1.2741 dollars from 1.2694 U.S. dollars in the previous session.

The U.S. dollar bought 144.1270 Japanese yen, lower than 144.6680 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar was down to 0.8959 Swiss francs from 0.8989 Swiss francs, and it rose to 1.3353 Canadian dollars from 1.3280 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar was down to 10.9443 Swedish Krona from 10.9464 Swedish Krona.