U.S. dollar rallies on strong trade data from China

The U.S. dollar increased against other major currencies on Wednesday as China's strong trade data raised market expectation for a rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve in the near future.

China's exports in yuan-denominated terms surged 18.7 percent year on year in March, the first increase since December, compared with a slump of 20.6 percent in February and a 6.6-percent fall in January, according to figures released by the General Administration of Customs Wednesday.

Imports dipped 1.7 percent, an improvement from February's 8-percent drop.

Analysts said the upbeat Chinese data suggested stabilization in the country's economy, which may allow the Fed to consider raising rates before the mid-year.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.87 percent at 94.772 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1283 dollars from 1.1388 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound declined to 1.4214 dollars from 1.4266 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7656 U.S. dollar from 0.7679 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 109.29 Japanese yen, higher than 108.60 yen of the previous session. The dollar increased to 0.9670 Swiss franc from 0.9555 Swiss franc and inched up to 1.2815 Canadian dollars from 1.2760 Canadian dollars. Endit