1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rallies on Yellen comment, upbeat data

The U.S. dollar rose against other major currencies on Monday as the Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled that an interest rate hike may happen later this year and the economic data from the country came out overall positive.

During a speech at San Francisco Fed conference Friday, Yellen said that an increase in the Fed's interest rate "may well be warranted later this year" given sustained improvement of economic conditions. She also emphasized that a major inflation pick-up is not a precondition for raising rates.

The greenback was also supported by Monday's economic data. The U.S. Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 3.1 percent to 106.9 in February, its highest level since June 2013, reported the National Association of Realtors.

The U.S. Commerce Department said on Monday that personal income increased 0.4 percent in February from the previous month, beating market consensus of 0.3 percent. Meanwhile, consumer spending, which takes up more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy, rose 11.8 billion dollar, or 0.1 percent.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.72 percent at 97.991 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro decreased to 1.0823 dollars from 1.0899 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound declined to 1.4815 dollars from 1.4873 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7652 dollars from 0.7756 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 120.16 Japanese yen, higher than 119.10 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar edged up to 0.9676 Swiss francs from 0.9608 Swiss francs, and it climbed to 1.2684 Canadian dollars from 1.2600 Canadian dollars. Endite