U.S. dollar rises on policy divergence

The U.S. dollar increased against most major currencies on Friday as the Federal Reserve was expected to raise interest rates later this year while central banks in Europe and Japan may release further stimulus.

The U.S. dollar rallied more than 2 percent against the Japanese yen in late trading on market speculation that the Bank of Japan will cut its deposit rates deeper into negative territory in its policy meeting next week.

The greenback touched 111.79 yen during the session, the highest level in three weeks.

Moreover, the greenback climbed against the euro as the European Central Bank decided to leave its negative interest rates unchanged on Thursday after the Governing Council meeting.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.55 percent at 95.118 on Friday in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1227 dollars from 1.1289 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.4411 dollars from 1.4321 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7709 dollars from 0.7736 dollars.

The dollar bought 111.71 Japanese yen, higher than 109.56 yen of the previous session. The dollar climbed to 0.9789 Swiss francs from 0.9744 Swiss francs, and it inched down to 1.2685 Canadian dollars from 1.2747 Canadian dollars. Enditem