NEW YORK, July 5 — The dollar gained versus most of its major peers this week ahead of a US report today that may show companies added enough jobs to lower the unemployment rate, boosting growth prospects for the world’s biggest economy.

The greenback traded near its strongest in more than a month against the yen and euro amid speculation the Federal Reserve will start paring back stimulus. The euro and pound slid after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney signalled in separate policy decisions that they will keep borrowing costs at record lows.

“The dovish comments from the ECB and BOE, together with a stronger payrolls report emphasize that the Fed will be the first of the major central banks to exit unconventional policy,” said Joseph Capurso, a Sydney-based currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. “That’s just going to support a further rise in the US dollar.”

The dollar rose 0.2 per cent to ¥100.25 as of 8:34 am in Tokyo after touching 100.86 on July 3, the highest since May 31. The US currency gained 0.1 per cent to US$1.2903 per euro from yesterday, when it reached US$1.2883, the strongest since May 29. The euro added 0.1 per cent to ¥129.35. The pound lost 0.2 per cent to US$1.5037 after earlier falling to US$1.5028, the least since May 29.

The greenback is set for a 1.1 per cent five-day advance against its Japanese counterpart, which would be its third- straight weekly gain. It has risen 0.8 per cent versus the euro since June 28.

Jobs gain

The US Labour Department will probably say today companies added 165,000 positions last month after increasing them by 175,000 in May, according to the median estimate by economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. A separate poll predicted the jobless rate fell to 7.5 per cent from 7.6 per cent in the previous period.

Draghi said yesterday in Frankfurt the central bank planned to keep the euro area’s main refinancing rate at a record-low 0.5 per cent or even lower for an “extended period” and that it was injecting a “downward bias in interest rates for the foreseeable future.”

The BOE said in a statement yesterday in London the “implied rise in the expected future path of bank rate was not warranted by the recent developments in the domestic economy” after officials left the bank’s benchmark rate and bond-purchase programme unchanged. The policy meeting was the first one led by Carney. — Bloomberg