1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises on rate hike speculation

The U.S. dollar climbed against most major currencies Friday as the latest Federal Reserve minutes bolstered market speculation that the central bank was moving closer to raising interest rates.

According to the minutes released Wednesday, Fed officials were divided over whether to raise interest rates in June during its March policy meeting.

Several officials believed the economic data and outlook were likely to warrant first rate hike at the June meeting, while others held it would be appropriate to begin raising rates later in the year, and a couple of officials suggested economic outlook would likely not call for liftoff until 2016.

Analysts said the arguments among Fed officials kept alive expectations for an interest rate hike this year, which continued to support the greenback Friday. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.19 percent at 99. 342 in late trading.

On economic front, U.S. import prices fell 0.3 percent in March following a 0.2-percent upturn in the previous month, said the U.S. Labor Department Friday. The price index for U.S. exports ticked up 0.1 percent, after declining 0.2 percent in February.

In late New York trading, the euro decreased to 1.0606 dollars from 1.0640 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound declined to 1.4649 dollars from 1.4695 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7685 U.S. dollar from 0.7688 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 120.19 Japanese yen, lower than 120.68 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar stayed flat at 0.9787 Swiss franc and it dropped to 1.2587 Canadian dollars from 1.2599 Canadian dollars. Endite