U.S. dollar rallies on upbeat jobs data, midterm elections

The U.S. dollar rose against other major currencies Wednesday on upbeat jobs data and the Republican Party's victory in midterm elections, arousing market speculation that more business-friendly policies would come out in Washington.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was up 0.54 percent at 87.456 in late trading.

Payrolls processor ADP reported on Wednesday that U.S. private sector employment added 230,000 jobs in October, more than market expectations of increasing by 220,000 jobs.

The upbeat data was in consistent with the Federal Reserve's optimistic remarks about the job market last month and bolstered investors expectation that the Fed is moving closer to its first interest rate hike.

Investors were also cheered up by the U.S. midterm election outcome that Republicans took control of the Senate, which analysts believe was good news especially for the industries that had been subject to regulatory issues.

In late New York trading, the euro decreased to 1.2478 dollars from 1.2556 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound went down to 1.5977 dollars from 1.6004 dollars. The Australian dollar edged down to 0.8582 dollar from 0.8744 dollar.

The dollar bought 114.71 Japanese yen, higher than 113.57 yen of the previous session. The dollar inched up to 0.9650 Swiss francs from 0.9595 Swiss francs, and it climbed to 1.1400 Canadian dollars from 1.1392 Canadian dollars.