1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises amid upbeat data

The U.S. dollar climbed against most major currencies on Wednesday as positive economic data from the country renewed market expectation for an interest-rate hike this year.

New orders for manufactured durable goods in July increased 2.0 percent to 241.1 billion U.S. dollars, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Wednesday. The latest reading was way higher than market consensus of a-0.4 percent loss.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.59 percent at 95.092 in late trading.

Although strong data eased some worries over whether the central bank would raise interest rates in 2015 given the recent market turmoil, many investors held that a September-hike is practically off the table.

New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley on Wednesday further bolstered the speculation. He said a September rate liftoff seemed "less compelling" than just a few weeks ago.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1345 dollars from 1.1423 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.5469 dollars from 1.5685 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar inched down to 0.7099 dollar from 0.7160 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 119.50 Japanese yen, lower than 119.79 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar hiked to 0.9527 Swiss franc from 0.9442 Swiss franc, and it surged to 1.3337 Canadian dollars from 1.3319 Canadian dollars. Enditem