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NEW YORK, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar ended higher against other major currencies on Wednesday as job data from the country came out positive.
U.S. private sector employment increased by 298,000 jobs from January to February, on a seasonally adjusted basis, well above the market consensus, said the February ADP National Employment Report Wednesday.
The ADP figure is widely seen as a pre-indicator for the non-farm payrolls report due on Friday.
Analysts said the strong data well bolstered market speculation for an interest rate hike as early as this month.
Market expectations for a March rate hike soared to 90.8 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.30 percent at 102.120 in late trading.
In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.0546 dollars from 1.0567 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.2164 dollars from 1.2200 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.7533 U.S. dollar from 0.7589 U.S. dollar.
The U.S. dollar bought 114.038 Japanese yen, higher than 114.05 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar climbed to 1.0147 Swiss francs from 1.0139 Swiss francs, and it edged up to 1.3495 Canadian dollars from 1.3421 Canadian dollars. Enditem
