The US dollar rose against major currencies for a third straight session on Friday on diverging monetary policy between the Federal Reserve and other major central banks. The euro hovered near a 28-month low against the greenback, while the dollar touched a more than one-week high against the yen in a continuation of dollar strength on the back of the Fed's hints at tighter monetary policy on Wednesday and looser policies in Europe, Japan and Switzerland.
"Looking into 2015, the prospect of European Central Bank quantitative easing and Fed normalisation will make it very hard for the euro not to go down further," said Jens Nordvig, head of G10 FX strategy at Nomura Securities International in New York. The dollar slipped against the rouble, meanwhile, and was last down 4.35 percent against the Russian currency to trade at 59.28 roubles. The rouble has seen intense selling pressure this week, and at one point was down about 20 percent against the dollar.
The dollar was last up 0.12 percent against the Swiss franc at 0.9810 franc, off a 28-month high of 0.9847 touched Thursday. The dollar was last up 0.48 percent against the yen at 119.38 yen after hitting a more than one-week high of 119.50. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was last up 0.18 percent at 89.394.