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

The U.S. dollar climbed against the euro on Monday amid the monetary policy divergence between central banks in the United States and Europe.

The euro declined to a four-week low against the greenback as the European Central Bank was under massive asset-purchasing program while the U.S. Federal Reserve was moving closer to lifting interest rates for the first time in nearly ten years.

According to the Fed minutes released last week, Fed officials were divided over whether to raise interest rates in June during its March policy meeting. Meanwhile, several Fed policy makers showed optimism of the U.S. economic recovery.

Analysts said the arguments among Fed officials keeps alive expectations for a June rate hike, which continued to support the greenback on Monday. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.16 percent at 99.501 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro decreased to 1.0569 dollars from 1.0606 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound rose to 1.4675 dollars from 1.4649 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7587 dollars from 0.7685 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 120.08 Japanese yen, lower than 120.19 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar declined to 0.9777 Swiss francs from 0.9787 Swiss francs, and it climbed to 1.2597 Canadian dollars from 1.2587 Canadian dollars. Endite