Mubasher: The number of job openings announced by US businesses climbed to the third highest level on record, in the last business day of January, official data showed on Friday.

Job openings, a gauge for labour demand, were 7.58 million last January, rising from a revised 7.48 million, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The rate was at 4.8%.

Large increases were seen in wholesale trade, real estate and rental and leasing and information segments.

This indicated that companies are still eager to add new employees, despite a tight labour market.

Moreover, hires were barely changed at 5.8 million during January, with the hiring rate at 3.9%, while the number of separations, including quits, layoffs and discharges almost was almost stable at 5.6 million, with a rate of 3.7%.

Within separations, the quits rate steadied at 2.3% last January, while the number of layoffs and discharges stabilised at 1.1%.

By 2:17 pm GMT, the US dollar index fell 0.28% to 96.5160.