LONDON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The dollar rose slightly on
Friday, sustaining some momentum after jumping in the previous
session following a raft of central bank decisions in Europe.Trading was relatively subdued as markets waited for the
latest U.S. employment data later in the day which may shift
U.S. Federal Reserve policy.The dollar picked up against the euro, with the latter
down 0.1% to $1.09 in early European trading. The euro
remained well above the 20-year low of $0.953 hit in September,
however.The Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday raised
interest rates by 25 basis points to a range of 4.5% to 4.75%, a
softer approach than the previous increase of 50 bps.The slowdown in the pace and comments from the central bank
helped send the dollar tumbling as traders hoped rate hikes
might soon end altogether.It then rallied sharply on Thursday when the European
Central Bank raised rates by 50 bps to 2.5%, but suggested that
it could be finished after another increase in March, causing
the euro to tumble."Essentially we have retraced everything before the
(Fed)meeting," said Alvin Tan, head of Asia FX strategy at RBC
Capital Markets.He said relatively weak earnings reports by tech giants
Alphabet, Apple and Amazon were
causing "a bit of a risk-off mood" in markets that was likely
boosting the dollar on Friday.The dollar index, which tracks the currency against
major peers, was up 0.1% to 101.89.Japan's yen was slightly higher against the
dollar, however, at 128.66 per dollar.The big event for markets on Friday is the release of U.S.
employment - or nonfarm payroll - numbers at 8.30 a.m. ET .Analysts polled by Reuters expect the U.S. economy to have
added 185,000 jobs in January, a strong showing but down from
223,000 in December. Wages data is also due.The pound was down 0.18% on Friday to $1.22, after
tumbling 1.2% on Thursday when the Bank of England raised
interest rates but stressed that inflation was showing signs of
relenting.The Australian dollar was 0.35% lower at $0.705.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar was up 0.35% against its Canadian
counterpart at C$1.336.Tan said he thinks the U.S. dollar should remain under
pressure in the coming weeks, given that the Fed is the central
bank closest to pausing interest rate hikes."I think that the path of least resistance in the next
quarter... is still for dollar weakness, unless we get a big
risk-off fright," he said.(Reporting by Harry Robertson; Additional reporting by Rae Wee;
Editing by Lincoln Feast, Simon Cameron-Moore and Emelia
Sithole-Matarise)