US dollar rises amid Fed official's remarks

The US dollar climbed against most major currencies on Monday amid positive comments from a Federal Reserve official about the country's economy.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said on Monday that U.S. economy's fundamentals are solid and the growth should pick up to around 2.5 percent for the rest of this year, adding that the unemployment will likely fall to 4.75 percent.

He also pointed out that the Fed's current "wait and see" approach to policy is appropriate.

"The continuation of a wait-and-see monetary policy response is appropriate to ensure that economic growth continues, labor markets strengthen further, wages begin to increase more, and all of this supports an eventual increase in currently low inflation back up to our 2 percent objective," Evans said.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.27 percent at 94.141 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1388 dollars from 1.1394 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.4407 dollars from 1.4418 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7317 dollars from 0.7361 dollars.

The dollar bought 108.45 Japanese yen, higher than 107.12 yen of the previous session. The dollar declined to 0.9709 Swiss francs from 0.9720 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.2976 Canadian dollars from 1.2938 Canadian dollars.