LONDON, Jan 6 Reuters The dollar held near an almost onemonth high on Friday, after U.S. economic data highlighted a stilltight labour market that could keep the Federal Reserve on its aggressive rate hike path.

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits dropped to a threemonth low last week while layoffs fell 43 in December, data on Thursday showed.

A separate report also revealed that private employment increased by 235,000 jobs last month, far exceeding expectations for a 150,000 increase.

Against a basket of currencies, the U.S. dollar index rose 0.2 to 105.3, having briefly touched a fourweek peak of 105.36.

The index was on track for a weekly gain of more than 1.8, its largest since September.

Strong labour market data means the narrative that the Fed can keep hiking interest rates is alive, said Giles Coghlan, chief market analyst at HYCM.

That39;s why we saw the reaction in the dollar to the positive labour data yesterday, Coghlan added.

Most major currencies were nursing losses on Friday, after the surging greenback knocked them to multiweek lows in the previous session.

The euro extended on the 0.8 decline in the previous session to touch a more than threeweek low of 1.05075.

Against the Japanese yen , the dollar climbed 0.7 to hit 134.45 yen, its highest level in over a week.

Markets now turn their attention to the closelywatched nonfarm payrolls report due later on Friday, with economists polled by Reuters forecasting the U.S….