2012.05.04 22:20:34 Mexico's Peso Falls Against Dollar After Poor US Jobs Data

--Currency loses 1.2% against U.S. dollar --Soft U.S. jobs data hits sentiment --Political uncertainty in Europe also weighs MEXICO CITY (Dow Jones)--Mexico's peso lost ground against the dollar Friday after a weaker-than-expected employment report in the U.S., Mexico's main trade partner, and amid continuing political uncertainty in Europe. The peso was quoted closing in Mexico City at MXN13.16 to the dollar, according to Infosel, compared with MXN13.0025 at the close Thursday. U.S. job growth slowed again in April, a new sign that the recovery in the world's largest economy could be losing some steam. Nonfarm payrolls grew by 115,000 last month, while economists were expecting a gain of 168,000. Mexico sells about 80% of its exports to the U.S., and the Mexican stock market often tracks U.S. benchmarks such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell 1.3% Friday. "The European debt crisis is also expected to create new episodes of risk aversion in the near future. Investors remain very cautious ahead of French and Greek elections on Sunday," said Banorte-Ixe forex strategist Juan Carlos Alderete. The peso is one of the most liquid of the emerging-market currencies, with strong presence of foreign investors. It has persistently been driven by investor sentiment on risk, led in recent months by Europe's sovereign-debt problems. In local economic news, Mexico's consumer confidence rose in April to its highest level since before the 2008 global financial crisis, as consumers were more confident about the current and future economic situation. The national statistics agency said its consumer confidence index rose to 97.2 in April from 89.7 a year earlier, and was up 2.34% from March in seasonally adjusted terms. -By Juan Montes, Dow Jones Newswires; (5255) 5980 5178; juan.montes@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 04, 2012 16:20 ET (20:20 GMT)