US dollar rises amid Fed rate hike expectation

New York: The US dollar gained on Tuesday as market expected the Federal Reserve to continue the interest rate hike in 2016.

Given the considerable improvement in labour market, traders believed that the US central bank will continue the rate hike, while central banks in Japan and Europe were expected to unleash further stimulus.

On the economic front, the number of job openings was little changed at 5.4 million on the last business day of November, the US Labour Department reported on Tuesday.

The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against six other major currencies, was up 0.24 percent at 98.981 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to $1.0856 from $1.0875 of the previous session, and the British pound decreased to $1.4430 from $1.4548. 

The Australian dollar went down to $0.6981 from $0.6982. The US dollar bought 117.59 Japanese yen, higher than 117.5 yen of the previous session. 

The dollar moved up to 1.0019 Swiss francs from 0.9997 Swiss franc and moved up to 1.4280 Canadian dollars from 1.4222 Canadian dollars.