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1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises against euro on policy divergence

Xinhua, April 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

The U.S. dollar climbed on Tuesday to the highest level in 10 days against the euro as the European Central Bank (ECB) tried to boost the economy with the bond-purchasing program while the Federal Reserve was moving closer to raising interest rates.

The euro had dropped 11 percent against the greenback during the first quarter in 2015, its worst quarterly loss in 15 years. The shared currency was under pressure amid the ECB's 1.1-trillion- euro quantitative easing program starting in March and the rising concerns about Greece's debt issues.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 9 percent since January, its strongest quarterly gain in almost 7 years, driven by the hiking expectations of Fed raising rates later this year.

The U.S. dollar was traded mixed Tuesday against other major currencies as economic data from the country came out overall positive.

U.S. Consumer Confidence Index rose from February reading of 98. 8 to 101.3 in March, well above market consensus of 95.5, said the Conference Board on Tuesday.

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, a leading measure of U. S. home prices, showed that the 10-City Composite gained 4.4 percent year-over-year in January, up from 4.3 percent in December, and the 20-City Composite added 4.6 percent year-over-year, compared to a 4.4 percent increase in December.

The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Business Barometer inched up in March after a sharp decline in the previous month, but was still below the 50 line, marking contraction for the second month in a row. The figure hit 46.3 this month, slightly above February's 45.8.

In late New York trading, the euro decreased to 1.0742 dollars from 1.0823 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound rose to 1.4845 dollars from 1.4815 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7612 dollars from 0.7652 dollars.

The dollar bought 119.95 Japanese yen, lower than 120.16 yen of the previous session. The dollar edged up to 0.9723 Swiss francs from 0.9676 Swiss francs, and it dropped to 1.2658 Canadian dollars from 1.2684 Canadian dollars. Endite