- Dollar rises after strong U.S. employment data
- Fed meeting eyed for clues on monetary policy future
- New Zealand dollar jumps after strong jobs report
- Bitcoin hits another all-time high
(Updates to U.s. market open, adds data, analyst quote, changes dateline, previous LONDON)
The dollar climbed on Wednesday, nearing a 3 1/2-month high against the yen, as investor optimism about the greenback ahead of major looming announcements on U.S. fiscal and monetary policy rose after strong economic data.
The ADP National Employment survey showed private U.S. employers added 235,000 jobs in October, surpassing estimates for 200,000 and setting up expectations for a strong U.S. nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.
The ADP number was the latest in a string of strong data releases on the U.S. economy that have backed the Federal Reserve's stance that weakness in reports earlier this year was transitory.
"There's a lot of positivity in the air," said Juan Perez, a currency strategist at foreign exchange company Tempus Inc in Washington.
Perez pointed to recent positive readings on U.S. gross domestic product, consumer confidence, housing prices and inflation data, which have recently exceeded expectations. Additionally, no other central bank is seen as likely to raise rates in the near term, except for the Bank of England, an expectation which has already been priced into the market.
"Right now, there's not a lot of threats to the dollar out there, and, if anything, there's just potential for the currency to be propelled further," Perez said.
The Fed is expected to leave interest rates unchanged at the end of its meeting later in the day.
The market also is focused on President Donald Trump's tax reform plans, which could also be revealed later in the day.
The dollar was last up 0.45 percent against the yen JPY= at 114.15 yen, eyeing its highest since mid-July of 114.44 yen.
The greenback was also higher against the Swiss franc CHF= , up 0.4 percent at 0.9968 and nearing its highest since mid-May.
The dollar index .DXY , which tracks the U.S. currency against six major rivals, rose 0.25 percent to 94.771.
The euro EUR= fell to $1.1618. The New Zealand dollar NZD=D4 rose as much as 1.2 percent to a one-week high of $0.6931 after data showed the country's jobless rate had sunk to a nine-year low of 4.6 percent
. The kiwi had come under pressure in recent weeks on fears ofthe new Labour-led coalition government's policies, including a clampdown on foreign investment and migration.
Bitcoin, which has more than doubled in price since mid-September, touched another all-time high, hitting $6,591 on the European Bitstamp exchange, boosted by bets that it could enter the financial mainstream after CME Group said it would launch bitcoin futures trading BTC=BTSP .
