Dollar surges on strong US jobs data, more room to rise

NEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters): The US dollar reached fresh multiyear highs on Friday after a stronger-than-forecast November US jobs report increased expectations the Federal Reserve may begin raising interest rates sooner than previously thought.

Employers added the most workers in nearly three years in November and wages rose, the latest US employment report showed. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 321,000, better than forecasts for an increase of 230,000. The unemployment rate held steady at a six-year low of 5.8 per cent.

Earlier this week US central bank officials such as New York Fed President William Dudley and Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer made comments that pointed toward rate increases in response to stronger US economic figures, maintaining a focus on what the data showed.

"The Fed already indicated that they were shifting. The comments from Dudley and Fischer earlier this week suggested they were beginning to think seriously about normalizing (policy) and this would make them think even more seriously, that they should be thinking about H1 (first half of the year) versus H2," said Steven Englander, global head of G10 foreign exchange strategy at CitiFX.