U.S. dollar rises on rate-hike expectations

The U.S. dollar climbed against most major currencies on Thursday as Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election boosted market expectation for interest-rate hikes in the country.

Market focus was quickly shifted to President-elect Trump's potential economic policies on Thursday.

Analysts said that the increased prospect of tax cuts and a generally pro-growth set of policies from Trump, aided and abetted by the Republican clean sweep of congress, raised investor speculation for a revival in inflation as well as more rate-hikes in the future.

On the economic front, in the week ending Nov. 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 254,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 265,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

The 4-week moving average was 259,750, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week's revised average.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.26 percent to 98.764 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.0890 dollars from 1.0927 dollars, and the British pound rose to 1.2566 dollars from 1.2428 dollars. The Australian dollar declined to 0.7620 dollars from 0.7640 dollars.

The dollar bought 106.82 Japanese yen, higher than 105.69 yen in the previous session. The dollar inched up to 0.9875 Swiss francs from 0.9839 Swiss francs, and it climbed to 1.3463 Canadian dollars from 1.3424 Canadian dollars. Enditem