U.S. dollar rises on rate-hike expectation

The U.S. dollar climbed against most major currencies on Monday as recent hawkish remarks by Federal Reserve officials raised market expectation for an interest-rate hike by year-end.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said over the weekend that the U.S. economy is close to meet the central bank's goals.

"We are close to our targets...Looking ahead, I expect GDP growth to pick up in coming quarters, as investment recovers from a surprisingly weak patch and the drag from past dollar appreciation diminishes," said Fisher in a speech on Sunday.

His comments came after San Francisco Fed President John Williams said on Thursday that the country's economy is strong enough to warrant a rate-hike soon.

"In the context of a strong domestic economy with good momentum, it makes sense to get back to a pace of gradual rate increases, preferably sooner rather than later," Williams said in an open speech in Alaska, adding that an earlier start to raising rates would allow a smoother, more gradual process of normalization.

The Fed officials' hawkish remarks bolstered market speculation for an interest-rate hike soon, which supported the greenback on Monday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.05 percent at 94.559 in late trading on Friday.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1320 dollars from 1.1325 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.3131 dollars from 1.3081 dollars. The Australian dollar stayed flat at 0.7624 dollars.

The dollar bought 100.29 Japanese yen, higher than 100.21 yen in the previous session. The dollar rose to 0.9618 Swiss francs from 0.9596 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.2959 Canadian dollars from 1.2856 Canadian dollars. Enditem