U.S. dollar rises amid Fed rate hike expectation

The U.S. dollar gained Tuesday as market expected the Federal Reserve to continue the interest rate hike in 2016.

Given the considerable improvement in labor market, traders believed that the U.S. central bank will continue the rate hike, while central banks in Japan and Europe were expected to unleash further stimulus.

On the economic front, the number of job openings was little changed at 5.4 million on the last business day of November, the U.S. Labor Department reported Tuesday.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against six other major currencies, was up 0.24 percent at 98.981 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.0856 U.S. dollars from 1.0875 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.4430 U.S. dollars from 1.4548 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.6981 U.S. dollar from 0.6982 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 117.59 Japanese yen, higher than 117.5 yen of the previous session. The dollar moved up to 1.0019 Swiss francs from 0.9997 Swiss franc and moved up to 1.4280 Canadian dollars from 1.4222 Canadian dollars. Endit