The dollar rose during Friday’s trading, moving
towards a weekly gain, amid large demand from investors to safe havens due to the
large spread of coronavirus around the world.
As of 07:55 GMT, the U.S dollar index, which measures
the performance of six major currencies against the greenback, traded at
100.72, resuming its good performance for a third straight session, noting that
the highest level recorded during the session was at 100.77.
The dollar is heading to weekly gain of 2 percent, yet
it may retreat if the U.S. non-farm payrolls came worse than forecast.
Investors are looking forward to the US jobs report
due today amid expectations that 100,000 jobs will be lost in March.
Data released on Thursday showed that 6.6 million
Americans applied for unemployment benefit last week, reflecting the impact of
lockdowns on the labor market.
Service activity data in the United States is
scheduled to be released later today.
Concerns continue about the coronavirus that has
infected most of the world -181 countries - after more than 1 million cases
were infected and 53,000 people died.
However, U.S. stock indexes rose at the close of
trading on Thursday, supported by higher oil prices, where the Dow Jones
Industrial Average rose 2.3 percent, the S&P 500 rose 2.3 percent, and the
Nasdaq Composite rose 1.7 percent.
The euro, on the
other hand, widened its losses and extended its drop for a fifth straight
session, after a report showing that eurozone business activity reported the
worst monthly fall ever in March.
