WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar climbed higher on Monday, gaining against most of its major counterparts, ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting, which gets underway on Tuesday. The Bank of Japan, the Bank of England, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Swiss National Bank are also scheduled to make their monetary policy announcements this week.
The Fed is widely expected to leave its interest rate unchanged. The focus will be on the central bank's accompanying statement, for clues about the outlook for interest rates.
Data from the Labor Department showing hotter-than-expected consumer price and producer price inflation readings have reduced optimism about the likelihood of the Fed's first rate cut coming in June.
In U.S. economic news, a report released by the National Association of Home Builders showed an unexpected improvement in U.S. homebuilder confidence in the month of March.
The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose to 51 in March from 48 in February. Economists had expected the index to come in unchanged.
With the unexpected increase, the housing market index surpassed the breakeven point of 50 for the first time since hitting 56 last July.
The dollar index climbed to 103.65, gaining more than 0.2%.
Against the Euro, the dollar firmed to 1.0872 after weakening to 1.0909 a unit of the European currency. Against Pound Sterling, the dollar gained marginally at 1.2727, and against the Yen, the currency firmed a bit, fetching 149.19 yen a unit.
The Aussie was flat a little while ago with the AUD/USD at 0.6558. Against Swiss franc, the dollar strengthened to CHF 0.8879 gaining from CHF 0.8836. The Loonie was up marginally against the dollar at C$ 1.3539.
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