U.S. dollar surges on Yellen remarks

The U.S. dollar jumped against other major currencies on Friday as investors pondered over U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's hawkish comments on rate hikes.

"In light of the continued solid performance of the labor market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation, I believe the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months," Yellen said Friday in a speech to a conference of central bankers in Jackson Hole, the U.S. state of Wyoming.

Pointing to solid growth in household spending and a strengthening job market, Yellen said that the U.S. economy is "now nearing" the Fed's statutory goals of maximum employment and price stability.

Analysts said it's possible for the Fed to hike interest rates as soon as September. But about 71 percent of 62 economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal this month believed that the Fed will wait until December to raise rates.

On the economic front, the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 1.1 percent in the second quarter this year, down from a previous estimate of 1.2 percent, the Commerce Department said Friday.

In a separate report, the department reported that the international trade deficit was 59.3 billion U.S. dollars in July, down 5.2 billion dollars from 64.5 billion dollars in June.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, surged 0.83 percent at 95.562 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1185 dollars from 1.1281 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.3127 dollars from 1.3169 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar dipped to 0.7554 dollar from 0.7614 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 101.87 Japanese yen, higher than 100.56 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rallied to 0.9789 Swiss franc from 0.9680 Swiss franc, and it moved up to 1.3006 Canadian dollars from 1.2929 Canadian dollars. Enditem