The Japanese yen clung to its gains against the U.S. dollar on Friday and was on track for its strongest week in more than a month, as traders ramped up bets on a Bank of Japan interest rate hike and broader currency markets awaited U.S. payrolls data.
Noriko Hayashi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The dollar jumped on Friday after data showed that U.S. employers added 162,000 jobs in August, well above the 56,000 additions expected by economists.
The data follows after an unexpected 23,000 job decline in July. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six leading currencies, including the yen and the euro, was last up 0.37% on the day 99.33, with the euro down 0.28% at $1.1592.
The Japanese yen weakened 0.41% to 156.45 per dollar.