U.S. Dollar gains before payrolls and as ECB lowers rates

The U.S. Dollar increased on Friday against the 17-nation bloc currency before a government data showed that payrolls in the U.S. rose and as the European Central Bank surprisingly cut its interest rates on yesterday's policy meeting. The U.S. Dollar Index measuring a performance of the currency against its most traded peers gained to 81.46, the most in eight weeks, while last it traded at 80.85.