1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises to 8-month high on rate-hike expectation

The U.S. dollar soared to an eight-month high on Monday as remarks by a Federal Reserve official bolstered market expectation for an interest-rate hike by year-end.

San Francisco Fed President John Williams said during the weekend that there is a "strong case" for the Fed to raise rates when policymakers meet next month.

The greenback was firmly supported by his words. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.23 percent at 99.794 in late trading, the highest level in eight months.

On the economic front, U.S. existing-home sales in October were at a healthy pace but failed to keep up with September's jump, according to the National Association of Realtors Monday.

Total existing-home sales fell 3.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.36 million in October from 5.55 million in September. Despite last month's decline, sales are still 3.9 percent above a year ago.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.0623 dollars from 1.0649 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.5119 dollars from 1.5195 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar declined to 0.7186 dollar from 0.7236 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 122.81 Japanese yen, lower than 122.88 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 1.0193 Swiss francs from 1.0189 Swiss francs, and it went up to 1.3374 Canadian dollars from 1.3341 Canadian dollars. Endit