The U.S. dollar traded higher Friday, on course for another positive week, ahead of the release of the monthly U.S. nonfarm payrolls which could influence Federal Reserve thinking.

At 03:40 ET (07:40 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.2% higher at 106.279, below the 11-month high of 107.34 seen earlier in the week, but still on track for 12 straight weeks of gains.

The September employment report is due later in the session, and is expected to show that 170,000 jobs were created in the month, down slightly from the prior month.

The unemployment rate comes out at the same time, and is expected to tick lower to 3.7% from 3.8% in August.

It's been a mixed week for labor market data, starting out with higher than expected job openings as of the end of August, then lower than expected private payroll numbers from ADP. Thursday's unemployment claims ticked up from the prior week but were slightly below expectations.

EUR/USD rose 0.1% to 1.0535, remaining above this week's fresh low of 1.0448, but the euro remains on course for a record losing run of 12 successive weeks against the dollar.

The single currency was helped by the news that German industrial orders rose more than expected in August, climbing by 3.9%, a significant improvement from the revised July drop of 11.3%.

USD/JPY climbed 0.2% to 148.86, remaining below the 150 level seen earlier this week which prompted speculation that Japanese authorities could have intervened in the currency market to shore up the battered yen.

Elsewhere, GBP/USD edged higher to 1.2193, with U.K. house prices falling 0.4% on the month in September, according to data from Halifax, an improvement from the fall of 1.8% the prior month.

Source : Investing.com