New York - The dollar edged higher against the euro and the yen Thursday ahead of the much-anticipated May US jobs report.
The monthly employment report, which will be released Friday morning, is expected to show the US added 225,000 jobs last month.
"Non-farm payrolls is the next major catalyst for a break higher in the dollar," said Kathy Lien, analyst at BK Asset Management.
While a good jobs report is "likely," it "is not a done deal," Lien said, adding that other key economic data has sent mixed signals.
"There's no doubt that the US economy and the labor market is improving, but the dollar is also overbought so even if it pushes higher on the back of a strong jobs number, it could be hit by profit-taking next week" ahead of a Federal Reserve policy decision on June 17, Lien said.
A strong labor report Friday would boost the chances for a Fed rate hike "sooner rather than later" and raise expectations of such a move in 2015, said David Song, currency analyst at DailyFX.
2100 GMT Thursday Wednesday
EUR/USD 1.1239 1.1270
EUR/JPY 139.79 140.01
EUR/CHF 1.0491 1.0526
EUR/GBP 0.7315 0.7349
USD/JPY 124.37 124.23
USD/CHF 0.9334 0.9339
GBP/USD 1.5365 1.5336
AFP
