US dollar rises amid Fed official’s remarks

New York: The US dollar increased against most major currencies amid a Fed official’ s hawkish comments.

Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said in a statement on Friday that the US short-term interest rates should be raised now, Xinhua news agency reported.

“I am arguing for modest, gradual tightening now, out of concern that not doing so today will put the recovery’ s duration and sustainability at greater risk,” he said.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to $1.1230 from $1.1206 of the previous session, and the British pound fell to $1.2958 from $1.3072. The Australian dollar slipped to $0.7617 from $0.7629.

The dollar bought 101.10 Japanese yen, higher than 100.90 yen in the previous session. The dollar climbed to 0.9697 Swiss francs from 0.9692 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.3174 Canadian dollars from 1.3067 Canadian dollars.

With no major data came out on Friday, Rosengren’ s words renewed market expectation for a rate-hike soon.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was up 0.03 per cent at 95.481 in late trading.

In the previous two sessions, the greenback was under pressure as the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged in its September meeting.

–IANS