Euro, European shares fall after U.S. jobs data

(Corrects to remove extraneous letter in headline)

LONDON (Reuters) – European shares, the euro and government bond prices fell after U.S. jobs data came in above expectations, challenging hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve may start slowing the pace of its interest rate hikes.

The euro fell 0.8% to as low as $1.0430, having earlier traded a fraction higher on the day, and the pan-European STOXX 600 plunged to a session low after the data and was last down 0.4%.

The index is now set to break six weeks of consecutive gains.

Euro zone government bond yields, which move inversely with prices, reversed earlier falls. Germany’s 10-year yield rose as much as 3 basis points on the day to 1.855%, having been down around 5 bps prior to the release. Germany’s 2-year yield, more sensitive to changes in interest rate expectations, was last unchanged at 2.04%, having fallen 8 bps before the data.

(This story has been refiled to remove the extraneous letter in the headline)

(Reporting by London markets team, editing by Yoruk Bahceli)