* Dollar slips from 11-month high versus euro
* U.S. economy loses jobs for eighth straight month
* Jobless rate highest since matching 6.1 pct in Sept 2003
(Updates prices, adds details, changes byline)
By Vivianne Rodrigues
NEW YORK, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The U.S dollar edged higher
versus the euro on Friday but retreated from 11-month highs
after government data showed the U.S. economy lost jobs for the
eighth straight month and the unemployment rate jumped.
The ongoing weakness in the U.S. labor market cast doubts
about the resilience of the U.S. economy, but with European
economies in trouble also the U.S. dollar's uptrend of the past
month remained intact.
"While today's weaker-than-expected U.S. employment report
for August may provide the euro with some respite, the euro
zone's activity and sentiment indicators are also
deteriorating," said Samarjit Shankar, global FX strategist at
Bank of New York Mellon in New York.
"This is likely to weigh on EUR/USD in the coming weeks,"
he said.
The Labor Department said 84,000 jobs were lost in August,
higher than the 75,000 that economists surveyed by Reuters had
forecast, while data for June and July were revised to show
bigger job losses also. The unemployment rate also rose, to its
highest since September 2003. For details see [].
After a volatile session, the euro was slightly lower at
$1.4235 <EUR=> in late afternoon trading. The euro earlier hit
an 11-month low at $1.4197, according to Reuters data.
Against the yen, the dollar recouped earlier losses and
last traded at 107.10 yen <JPY=>, up 0.5 percent on the day.
The ICE Futures U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value
of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was also
slightly higher at 78.930 <.DXY>, after seeing a new 12-month
high on Thursday.
RATE CUT ODDS
Financial markets on Friday reconsidered the likely course
of Federal Reserve rate policy after the August jobs report.
Short-term interest rate futures <FFF9> <FFV8>, which show
market sentiment toward Fed policy, now price a small chance
for a rate cut by year end, after suggesting for months that
the Fed's next move would be a rate increase. [].
Nick Bennenbroek, head of currency strategy at Wells Fargo
Bank in New York, said the negative impact of the August
payrolls report on the dollar is likely to be limited.
Investors "seem reluctant to give up their stronger dollar
bias," he said in a note. "The dollar is down after the report,
albeit reluctantly. Still, we don't see anything in this report
that should add to the dollar's already remarkable surge."
The dollar has rallied sharply against the euro in the past
month, buoyed by a sharp drop in crude oil prices and
expectations that the U.S. economy would outperform those of
Europe and Asia.
The yen, on the other hand, had hit two-year highs against
the Australian and New Zealand dollars in overnight trade,
benefiting from a flight from riskier carry trades. On Friday,
however, the yen had surrendered its gains against most major
currencies, but risk aversion remains a major theme.
Market players said investors were exiting leveraged carry
trades, or positions funded by borrowing yen at low rates to
buy higher-yielding currencies and commodities.
Traders cited talk of more hedge funds going under after
news that Ospraie Management LLC, the world's biggest
commodities hedge fund, was forced to close its flagship fund
this week.
(Additional reporting by Wanfeng Zhou and Lucia Mutikani;
Editing by James Dalgleish)
