Mubasher: US unemployment rate remained unchanged for the fifth consecutive month in February at the lowest level since December 2009, while hiring pace accelerated significantly and wage growth slowed.

The jobless rate stayed at 4.1% last month, with the number of unemployed people standing at 6.7 million, data by the US Bureau of Labour Statistics showed on Friday.

Meanwhile, total non-farm payrolls rose by 313,000, marking the largest monthly rise since July 2016.

However, economists, polled by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), had expected a growth of 205,000 in payrolls in February and a decline in unemployment towards 4.0%.

The average hourly earnings for all sectors expanded by 0.1% or 4 cents to $26.75 in February, compared with a 0.3% increase in the previous month, and down from analysts’ forecasts of a 0.2% growth.

The average workweek rose by 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours last month.

By 02:07 pm GMT, the EUR/USD pair slipped by 0.12% to $1.2297.