Stability of USD as investors assess the path of raising interest rates

The dollar stabilized on Monday after investors digested a batch of economic data released last week that raised hopes that the Federal Reserve would slow the pace of interest rate hikes.

Data on Friday showed that non-farm payrolls in the United States increased by 223 thousand jobs in December, while average earnings rose 0.3 percent less than expected and less than 0.4 percent in the previous month.

There were other signs of a slowing economy, with service industry activity in the United States contracting for the first time in more than two-and-a-half years in December amid weak demand.

This led to a decline in the dollar index, which measures the performance of the US dollar against six major currencies, by 1.15 percent on Friday. The index rose 0.01 percent to 103,720 on Monday. The index achieved an eight percent increase in 2022.

The Japanese yen rose 0.12 percent against the dollar to 131.94 per dollar, while the pound sterling recorded in its last transactions 1.2099 dollars, up 0.06 percent on Monday, after rising 1.5 percent on Friday.

The euro rose 0.11 percent to $1.0656, after closing 1.17 percent higher on Friday.

The Australian dollar rose 0.17 percent against the US currency, to $0.689, while the New Zealand dollar rose 0.02 percent, to $0.635.