(RTTNews) - The Japanese yen edged sharply lower across the board on Friday morning in New York following the US government report showed that employers slashed the fewest number of jobs last month since the start of the recession in December 2007.
The U.S. Labor Department figures revealed that non-farm payrolls dropped by 11,000 in November - a significant improvement from the 190,000 jobs that were lost in October. The unemployment rate fell to 10% in November from 10.2% in the previous month.
Most economists had expected job losses to slow down notably to a 125,000 rate and the unemployment rate to remain at 10.2 percent set in the previous month.
The yen plunged to new multi-week lows of 148.93 against the pound, 89.19 against the Swiss franc, 134.34 against the euro, 85.62 against the Canadian dollar and 89.9 against the US dollar around 8:35 am ET.
Against the Australian and NZ dollars, the yen slumped to new multi-day lows of 83.02 and 64.89, respectively at this time.
