NEW YORK - The dollar rose on Friday in thin trading, posting its third straight weekly gain, after data showed the world's largest economy created more jobs than expected in March, suggesting it is on a steady path to recovery from the pandemic.

Financial markets are closed in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Britain, and Europe in observance of the Good Friday holiday. Wall Street is also closed, while the U.S. bond and currency markets are open

because Good Friday is not a U.S. government holiday.

Friday's data showed U.S. nonfarm payrolls surged 916,000 jobs last month, the largest gain since last August. Data for February was revised higher to show 468,000 jobs created instead of the previously reported 379,000. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls increasing by 647,000 jobs in March.

 "The overall strength of the labor market is likely to prove dollar-positive," said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst, at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington.

"The hiring explosion showed the economy producing some of the 'substantial further progress' the Federal Reserves wants to see before it pivots away from its low rate policies."

He added, though, that Treasury yields may take exception given tepid wage growth which is consistent with inflation remaining subdued.

Sentiment for the dollar has improved in recent weeks, while Treasury yields have spiked, as the Biden administration's planned stimulus of more than $2 trillion and a rapid COVID-19 vaccine rollout spurred economic optimism as well as inflation fears.

U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were last at 1.717%, up nearly 4 basis points from the previous session.

In midday trading, the dollar index was up 0.1% at 93.025, posting gains in five of the last six weeks. 

The dollar's ascent to multi-month highs is likely to continue as more investors bet on economic recovery.

The dollar was up 0.1%  versus the yen at 110.67 yen, not far from its strongest level in a year at just under 111 yen. 

The euro, meanwhile, was down 0.2% against the dollar at $1.1756.

In the cryptocurrency market, ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, hit a record high of $2,081.83 and was last up 5% at $2,065.45.

"Basically, there's a decentralized Wall Street blooming on top of ethereum that's currently growing faster than any other sector in the entire cryptocurrency industry, and it all requires ETH to function, likely explaining a good portion of the increased attention on the asset," said Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, a decentralized network that provides data to smart contracts on the blockchain.

Bitcoin, meanwhile, briefly rose above $60,000 for the first time in two weeks but then pared gains to trade up 1.1% at $59,400.

    ========================================================

    Currency bid prices at 11:58AM (1558 GMT)

 Description      RIC         Last           U.S. Close  Pct Change     YTD Pct       High Bid    Low Bid

                                              Previous                   Change                   

                                              Session                                             

 Dollar index                 92.9990        92.8980     +0.12%         3.354%        +93.0750    +92.8300

 Euro/Dollar                  $1.1756        $1.1778     -0.15%         -3.75%        +$1.1787    +$1.1749

 Dollar/Yen                   110.6750       110.6050    +0.08%         +7.13%        +110.7450   +110.3700

 Euro/Yen                     130.16         130.23      -0.05%         +2.55%        +130.3100   +130.0400

 Dollar/Swiss                 0.9408         0.9416      +0.11%         +6.55%        +0.9434     +0.9407

 Sterling/Dollar              $1.3817        $1.3834     -0.01%         +1.25%        +$1.3852    +$1.3815

 Dollar/Canadian              1.2561         1.2553      +0.11%         -1.31%        +1.2573     +1.2530

 Aussie/Dollar                $0.7599        $0.7617     -0.17%         -1.15%        +$0.7637    +$0.7599

 Euro/Swiss                   1.1080         1.1090      -0.09%         +2.53%        +1.1097     +1.1074

 Euro/Sterling                0.8508         0.8511      -0.04%         -4.80%        +0.8520     +0.8502

 NZ                           $0.7016        $0.7025     -0.17%         -2.34%        +$0.7047    +$0.7013

 Dollar/Dollar                                                                                    

 Dollar/Norway                8.5190         8.5265      -0.04%         -0.74%        +8.5435     +8.5235

 Euro/Norway                  10.0298        10.0360     -0.06%         -4.18%        +10.0530    +10.0296

 Dollar/Sweden                8.7275         8.7115      +0.04%         +6.48%        +8.7375     +8.7048

 Euro/Sweden                  10.2644        10.2598     +0.04%         +1.87%        +10.2685    +10.2572

 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York Additional reporting by Stanley White in Tokyo, Editing by Matthew Lewis)

© Reuters News 2021