1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises as global stocks rally

The U.S. dollar climbed against most major currencies Wednesday following increases across the global equity markets.

Tokyo stocks soared 7.71 percent Wednesday with its benchmark Nikkei stock index rising by its highest margin since 1994 on optimism over global economy. Meanwhile, Chinese shares remained in positive territory for the second consecutive day Wednesday.

The European stocks rallied Wednesday, with FTSE 100 Index, benchmark of London Stock Exchange, increasing 1.35 percent, while U.S. stocks also opened higher Wednesday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was up 0.06 percent at 96.042 in late trading.

The greenback was further boosted by the positive jobs data from the country. U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday that the number of job openings rose to a record high of 5.8 million on the last business day of July.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1198 dollars from 1.1187 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.5365 dollars from 1.5384 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar moved down to 0.7017 U.S. dollar from 0.7030 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 120.56 Japanese yen, higher than 119.99 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar dived to 0.9745 Swiss franc from 0.9814 Swiss franc and hiked to 1.3245 Canadian dollars from 1.3211 Canadian dollars. Endit