NEW YORK- The dollar tumbled against other major currencies Friday, driven lower after a surprisingly weak US jobs report cast doubt on the vigor of the nation's economic recovery.

The dollar fell sharply against the euro. The European currency traded at $1.3666 around 2300 GMT, up from $1.3606 late Thursday.

The greenback slid to 104.15 yen from 104.79 yen. The euro also fell more moderately against the Japanese currency, to 142.33 yen from 142.58 yen.

Financial markets were shocked by the US Labor Department's jobs report for December, which showed the economy added a mere 74,000 jobs last month, well below the consensus estimate of 197,000.

The unemployment rate dropped to 6.7 percent, from 7.0 percent in November, but that seemingly positive decline mainly reflected the fact that more people had given up looking for work.

Kathy Lien of BK Asset highlighted that the US job creation number was the worst since January 2011, low enough to encourage the Federal Reserve to moderate plans to wind down its massive asset purchases, or quantitative easing (QE), this year.

SOURCE: APP/AFP