By Lisa Twaronite & Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The dollar rose in European hours Friday as traders focused more on European debt woes than the nonfarm payrolls data that typically loom large over markets.
The dollar index (DXY 80.16, +0.24, +0.30%) , which tracks the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose to 80.405 from 79.882 in North American trading late Thursday.
The euro (CUR_EURUSD 1.37, -.00, -0.17%) fell to as low as $1.3647, though in late morning trade in Europe it exchanged hands at $1.3707, down from $1.3754 late Thursday.
The euro's retreat comes as worries over Greece and Portugal hit European stocks for a second straight session. See related story.
At 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, the U.S. government will release its employment report for January, with economists forecasting a 25,000 increase in nonfarm payroll jobs. This is down from an earlier consensus of about a 40,000 gain.
The jobs data report is in the spotlight after first-time filings for state unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to their highest level since mid-December last week, defying the forecasts of economists who had expected a sharp downturn, government data showed Thursday. Read more on U.S. jobless claims.
"A better set of numbers would clearly reduce the tensions which have become evident across all markets, but U.S. data cannot fix the budgetary problems of Spain, Portugal and Greece. News of further planned strike action in Greece demonstrates that this week's approval of the budget by the European Commission is only the first in a series of hoops that the Greek government has to jump through in order to reduce its budget to more acceptable levels," said Jane Foley, research director at Forex.com.
The euro did climb against one counterpart, up 0.3% to 1.4693 francs amid talk the Swiss National Bank intervened during the Asian session to drive down the value of the Swiss currency.
