NEW YORK ? The dollar weakened against most other major currencies after a key US monthly jobs report beat expectations, raising hopes for a sustained economic recovery that fueled risk taking.

The euro rose to $1.3621 around 2200 GMT, up from $1.3580 late Thursday.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar rose 90.28 yen from 89.10 yen on Thursday.

Traders deserted the safe-haven dollar after the Labor Department reported the US economy lost fewer jobs than expected in February and the unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent.

The department said non-farm payroll employment fell by 36,000 jobs, surprising most analysts who estimated about 67,000 losses amid severe winter weather that crippled regions of the country.

Most economists had expected the unemployment rate to rise to 9.8 percent from 9.7 percent in January.

"Thanks to the better than expected US non-farm payrolls report, the sun is shining brightly on the financial markets," said Kathy Lien at Global Forex Trading.

"The improvement in risk appetite helped to drive currency traders out of the safety of US dollars and back into higher-yielding and riskier currencies," she said.

"Forex traders even bought euros and sterlings despite problems in the hopes that a stronger US recovery will reduce risk in the rest of the world."

The pound rose to $1.5124 from $1.5028 late Thursday.

The euro also drew support from signals that Greece was now in a better position to tackle its public debt and deficit and to restore its credibility on financial markets, where it must borrow heavily to meet its obligations.

The Greek Parliament on Friday approved a new package of tough tax hikes and spending cuts designed to save 4.8 billion euros ($6.5 billion).

On Thursday, the government successfully launched a 5.0-billion-euro bond issue that sparked robust demand.

But Greece had to pay a heavy price ? roughly twice what German investors would have to pay ? to attract investors.

In addition, Greece is looking for some form of solidarity or support from its eurozone partners but has run into stiff resistance in Germany, the eurozone's largest economy.

"The euro's upside is blocked by ongoing uncertainty over the Greek debt crisis, which appears to have spilled over into other European majors to some extent," said Michael Woolfolk at Bank of New York Mellon.

In late New York trade, the dollar Swiss francs (1.0766).