U.S. dollar rises on Yellen's remarks

The U.S. dollar climbed against most major currencies on Monday on Federal Reserve's positive remarks about the country's labor market.

Yellen said in a public speech on Monday that "after years of a slow economic recovery, you are entering the strongest job market in nearly a decade," adding that there are also indications that wage growth is picking up.

Her comments came a week after the U.S. central bank decided to raise interest rates for the first time this year.

The Fed also released its updated economic projections, which indicated that the central bank forecasts three rate hikes next year, while in its September projections, Fed officials expected only two rate hikes in 2017.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.17 percent at 103.120 in late trading on Monday.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.0405 dollars from 1.0438 dollars, and the British pound dropped to 1.2399 dollars from 1.2487 dollars. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.7245 dollars from 0.7299 dollars.

The dollar bought 117.36 Japanese yen, lower than 117.91 yen in the previous session. The dollar inched down to 1.0268 Swiss francs from 1.0270 Swiss francs, and it climbed to 1.3412 Canadian dollars from 1.3344 Canadian dollars. Enditem