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

The U.S. dollar rose against most major currencies on Thursday as recent remarks by Federal Reserve officials bolstered market speculation for an interest-rate hike by year-end.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen told Congress on Wednesday that the U.S. economy is "performing well" and that "December would be a live possibility" for a rate increase at the Fed's next monetary policy meeting.

Yellen's words were echoed by several other Fed officials. New York Fed President William Dudley said Wednesday that he would "completely agree" with Yellen on a December hike.

Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said on Thursday that the "U.S. economy is likely in an above-potential growth phase ... the case for liftoff will continue to firm up."

On the U.S. economic front, in the week ending Oct. 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 276,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week's unrevised level and above market consensus of 262,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Investors were awaiting the closely-watched U.S. nonfarm payroll report due out Friday to get a more comprehensive view of the recovery of the country's labor market.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0883 dollars from 1.0856 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound declined to 1.5213 dollars from 1.5376 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar dropped to 0.7143 dollar from 0.7150 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 121.69 Japanese yen, higher than 121.57 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar climbed to 0.9952 Swiss franc from 0.9942 Swiss franc, and it went up to 1.3165 Canadian dollars from 1.3163 Canadian dollars. Enditem