Dollar extends gains as markets parse Omicron impact

The US dollar rose against most of its peers on Monday, amid close focus on the Omicron variant impact.

US Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci said that the risks of the Omicron variant may have been exaggerated, noting that may be less dangerous than Delta.

Cases of Omicron have already appeared in the US, Europe and Asia, but with mild symptoms and no deaths have been reported.

The US Department of Labor reported today that the economy has added 210,000 new jobs in November, missing forecasts of 570,000 new jobs, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.2% from 4.6% in September, better than forecasts of 4.5%.

The dollar index rose against a basket of major currencies by 0.2% to 96.3 points as of 19:44 GMT, after hitting a high of 96.3 points and a low of 96.1 points.