Dollar Stays Firm Against Major Counterparts

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar stayed largely positive on Monday with traders assessing the likely moves of the Federal Reserve with regard to interest rates.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television today, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said it will take a while for the Fed to be confident that inflation is on track back to its goal.

"The issue right now is when are we going to be certain that inflation is clearly on a path back to 2%. I think it's going to take a while before we know that for sure," Bostic said.

Meanwhile, Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said during his speech at the Mortgage Bankers Association conference in New York that it is too early to tell whether the recent slowdown in the disinflationary process will be long lasting.

The dollar index climbed to 104.65 in early New York session, recovering well after a weak spell during the Asian and European sessions. The index was last seen at 104.62, up 0.16% from the previous close.

Against the Euro, the dollar firmed to 1.0858 from 1.0871. The dollar was down marginally against Pound Sterling at 1.2706.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar strengthened to 156.28 yen, up from 155.68 yen on Friday. The Aussie weakened to US$0.6667 from US$6693.

The Swiss franc weakened to 0.9107 a dollar, while the Loonie firmed to 0.7343 a unit of the U.S. currency.