• U.S. employers hired workers at a robust pace in February, beating expectations, and wages grinded higher, which could give the Federal Reserve the green light to raise interest rates next week despite slowing economic growth.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 235,000 jobs last month as the construction sector recorded its largest gain in nearly 10 years due to unseasonably warm weather, the Labor Department said on Friday. January's employment gains were revised up to 238,000 from the previously reported 227,000
The euro edged up near a one-month high against the dollar in Asian trading on Monday, after some European Central Bank policymakers raised the possibility of hiking interest rates before bond purchases end.
The euro was up 0.1 percent at $1.0691 EUR=, after rising as high as $1.0699 on Friday, its highest level since Feb. 9.
• Oil prices dropped to their lowest in three months on Monday despite OPEC efforts to curb crude output, dragged down as U.S. drillers kept adding rigs.
Brent crude LCOc1 had by 0011 GMT (8:11 p.m. ET) fallen 42 cents, or 0.82 percent, to its lowest since Nov. 30 at $50.95 per barrel. It closed the previous session down 1.6 percent at $51.37 a barrel.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) CLc1 declined 50 cents, or 1.03 percent, to $47.99 a barrel, its weakest since Nov.29.
Reference: Reuters, Bloomberg
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