Early Trade: Dollar touches highest level in more than 4 months

NEW YORK: The US dollar touched a its highest level in more than four months against the euro on Tuesday, as investors speculated further over whether recent strong jobs data could be enough to push the Federal Reserve to soon start tapering its bond-buying program.

The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was up for a third straight session, at its highest level in about three weeks.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was down 2% at $45,352.58, having hit a three-month high of $46,759 overnight. Ether was down 1.29% at $3,126.01.

The dollar has risen recently with US bond yields as the prospect of reduced Fed stimulus weakened bond prices.

"The dollar is well bid and it's been well bid since the middle of last week," said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex in New York.

"A combination of hawkish comments from several Federal Reserve officials and the second monthly increase of more than 900,000 jobs has reaffirmed what the market has suspected, and that is for a tapering decision to be made shortly."

US job openings hit a record high in June while hiring also increased, the Labor Department said in a monthly survey on Monday.

On Friday, the department's non-farm payrolls report showed jobs increased by 943,000 in July, above the 870,000 forecast by economists in a Reuters poll.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic said on Monday the US economy is improving faster than expected, with the time when the Fed could start slowing its bond purchases nearing quickly.

Investors are looking for signals from the Federal Reserve at the annual Jackson Hole conference of central bankers this month.

US consumer price data is due on Wednesday.

The dollar index was last up about 0.1% on the day, while the euro was down 0.1% at $1.1720.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar rose 0.2% to 110.505 yen. The dollar was also up 0.2% versus the Swiss franc, extending recent gains.