FOREX-Dollar retreats as U.S. job growth turns cold Swedish crown falls - Reuters

    * U.S. payrolls grow far less than forecast in February
    * U.S. jobless rate dips below 4 pct, wage rise more than
expected
    * Swedish crown hits over 16-year low on Riksbank's dovish
turn
    * Euro on track for weekly loss of 1.7 percent
    * Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

 (Updates market action, changes dateline, previous LONDON)
    By Richard Leong
    NEW YORK, March 8 (Reuters) - The dollar fell against most
major currencies on Friday as data showed U.S. employers hired
far fewer workers than forecast in February, although the
jobless rate fell and wages grew more than expected.
    The Swedish crown fell to a 16-year low, as
Riksbank joined its central bank counterparts in Europe and
Canada in adopting a cautious outlook. 
    The greenback reversed some of its biggest one-day gains in
nearly seven months on Thursday as the European Central Bank and
other overseas central banks hinted they might pump more
stimulus, either by buying more assets or lowering interest
rates to help their struggling economies.
    Traders sold the dollar a bit more early Friday after a
measly 20,000-job increase in domestic payrolls last month, far
fewer than 180,000 forecast among analysts polled by Reuters.
But traders were encouraged by the unemployment rate falling
back below 4 percent and the average hourly earnings
accelerating by 0.4 percent.
    "The dollar sold off mildly. It doesn't look that bad when
you look at the details," said Peter Ng, senior currency trader
at Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, California.
    At 10:34 a.m. EST (1534 GMT), an index that tracks the
dollar against a basket of six currencies was down 0.33
percent at 97.341. It touched 97.710 on Thursday, the highest
since Dec. 14.
    On the week, the dollar index was on track to gain 0.85
percent.
    Much of the greenback's weekly rise stemmed from a dramatic
sell-off in the euro on Thursday when the ECB offered a fresh
round of cheap loans to banks and pushed back any plan to raise
rates into 2020.
    The common currency rose 0.35 percent to $1.1232,
rebounding from a 20-month low of $1.11765 reached on Thursday.
    Friday's rise reduced the euro's weekly loss against the
dollar to 1.17 percent, which would be its steepest one-week
decline since late September.
    Among other G10 currencies, the Swedish crown
succumbed to further selling pressure, hitting 9.4890 on Friday,
its weakest since August 2002. 
    The crown slipped again a day after Swedish Central Bank
Governor Stefan Ingves struck a dovish note in a statement to
Parliament. Data showed Swedish house prices fell
in the three months ending in February.   
    "Yesterday, the Riksbank suggested that its forecasts for
repo rate hikes were simply that – a forecast but not a
promise," HSBC strategists said in a daily note.
========================================================
    Currency bid prices at 10:36AM (1536 GMT)
 Description      RIC         Last           U.S. Close  Pct Change     YTD Pct     High Bid    Low Bid
                                              Previous                   Change                 
                                              Session                                           
 Euro/Dollar      EUR=        $1.1230        $1.1192     +0.34%         -2.08%      +1.1241     +1.1185
 Dollar/Yen       JPY=        111.0300       111.5800    -0.49%         +0.70%      +111.6400   +110.8000
 Euro/Yen         EURJPY=     124.72         124.90      -0.14%         -1.19%      +125.0200   +124.2800
 Dollar/Swiss     CHF=        1.0069         1.0111      -0.42%         +2.60%      +1.0118     +1.0071
 Sterling/Dollar  GBP=        1.3034         1.3084      -0.38%         +2.17%      +1.3108     +1.3029
 Dollar/Canadian  CAD=        1.3428         1.3453      -0.19%         -1.53%      +1.3467     +1.3391
 Australian/Doll  AUD=        0.7044         0.7013      +0.44%         -0.07%      +0.7051     +0.7004
 ar                                                                                             
 Euro/Swiss       EURCHF=     1.1310         1.1320      -0.09%         +0.50%      +1.1333     +1.1309
 Euro/Sterling    EURGBP=     0.8615         0.8553      +0.72%         -4.11%      +0.8619     +0.8548
 NZ               NZD=        0.6799         0.6752      +0.70%         +1.22%      +0.6809     +0.6752
 Dollar/Dollar                                                                                  
 Dollar/Norway    NOK=        8.7797         8.7773      +0.03%         +1.63%      +8.8194     +8.7727
 Euro/Norway      EURNOK=     9.8607         9.8238      +0.38%         -0.46%      +9.8797     +9.8183
 Dollar/Sweden    SEK=        9.4435         9.4555      +0.23%         +5.35%      +9.4988     +9.4439
 Euro/Sweden      EURSEK=     10.6070        10.5829     +0.23%         +3.34%      +10.6470    +10.5820
    

    
 (Additional reporting by Tom Finn in LONDON
Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, larry King and Jonathan Oatis)
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