Dollar up for best week in five months

The dollar continued its gains on Friday morning in Asia, on track for its best week in five months. Investors are expecting that the United States’ Federal Reserve will begin its interest rate hike sooner than expected following last Wednesday’s strong inflation data. 

The U.S. Dollar Index that measures the greenback other major currencies tallied an increase of 0.07% to 95.237 by 23:41 PM ET (4:41 AM GMT), trading below a 16-month high of 95.267.

The USD/JPY pair climbed 0.18% to 114.25.

The AUD/USD pair dropped 0.10% to 0.7287, while the NZD/USD pair nudged 0.23% lower to 0.7003.

The USD/CNY pair jumped 0.10% to 6.3965, while the GBP/USD pair slid 0.06% to 1.3363.

On Wednesday, the U.S. inflation data revealed a 6.2% year-on-year increase and a 0.9% month-on-month growth in the consumer price index (CPI) in October. The core CPI surged 4.6% year on year and 0.6% month on month.

Investors now see the Fed’s first interest rate hike in July 2022, followed by another raise in December.