Dollar subdued

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TOKYO: The dollar started the week on the back foot on Monday, after U.S. data showed a smaller-than-expected rise in wages in January that reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will refrain from raising interest rates next month.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, drooped 0.2 percent to 99.688 , moving back toward last Thursday´s low of 99.233, which was its weakest since mid-November.

The U.S. currency slipped 0.2 percent against the yen from Friday´s late North American levels to 112.36 yen, retreating toward last week´s late-November low of 112.05.While the headline figure of Friday´s nonfarm payrolls report for January showed a greater-than-expected rise in job growth, the unemployment rate edged up and wage growth was disappointing.

That implied inflation would not attain a pace that would prompt the U.S. central bank to raise interest rates soon. Fed fund futures priced in a less than 10 percent chance of a rate hike in March after the jobs data on Friday, according to the CME Group´s FedWatch. The chance of a June increase was seen at more than 60 percent. The Fed, which raised rates in December, has forecast three rate increases this year.