U.S. dollar rises on Yellen's comments

The U.S. dollar rallied against other major currencies on Friday as after the Federal Reserve Chair said an interest rate hike is appropriate in the coming months.

"It's appropriate -- and I've said this in the past -- for the Fed to gradually and cautiously increase our overnight interest rate over time," Yellen said on Friday at Harvard University, adding that "Probably in the coming months such a move would be appropriate."

Yellen's words bolstered market expectation for an interest rate increase as early as June. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.60 percent at 95.738 in late trading.

On the economic front, U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) rose at an annual rate of 0.8 percent in the first quarter of 2016, slightly below market expectations, according to the second estimate released by the Commerce Department Friday.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1114 dollars from 1.1190 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.4608 dollars from 1.4656 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7178 dollars from 0.7218 dollars.

The dollar bought 110.43 Japanese yen, higher than 109.70 yen of the previous session. The dollar climbed to 0.9944 Swiss francs from 0.9893 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.3038 Canadian dollars from 1.2984 Canadian dollars. Enditem