1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar soars on rate-hike expectation

The U.S. dollar rose against other major currencies Thursday as robust economic data from the country bolstered market expectation for an interest-rate hike by the year-end.

The Commerce Department reported on Thursday that the U.S. economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the second quarter, a moderate bounce from the revised 0.6 percent increase in the first quarter.

Though the latest reading was below market consensus of a 2.5- percent gain, it still pointed to a sound recovery of U.S. economy from the first quarter weakness.

The data were also in consistent with the Federal Reserve's statement released Wednesday. The central bank said that the U.S. economy was expanding "moderately," with additional improvements in housing and the labor market.

Analysts said the Fed had upgraded its assessments of economic performance, supporting the popular view that the first rate-hike since 2006 may occur later this year.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was up 0.59 percent at 97.549 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro declined to 1.0921 dollars from 1.1006 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.5600 dollars from 1.5610 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.7286 U.S. dollar from 0.7298 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 124.24 Japanese yen, higher than 123.94 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.9701 Swiss franc from 0.9670 Swiss franc and inched up to 1.2999 Canadian dollars from 1.2936 Canadian dollars. Endite