The U.S. dollar rose against major currencies in late New York trading on Monday as debt problems in the eurozone might deepen.
The euro fell below 1.36 against the dollar in late trading session as investors worried about the sovereign debt troubles in Ireland and Portugal.
Although the Fed had announced a new round of quantitative easing policy, which most investors expect to pressure on the dollar, the European debt problem recently gained much more attention in the market.
The dollar index, which gauged the greenback's performance against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.5 percent to 78.431 and once hit a high of 78.629, its strongest level since early October.
In late Monday trading, the dollar bought 83.04 Japanese yen, comparing with 82.45 late Friday, and the euro fell to 1.3599 dollars from 1.3693. The British pound fell to 1.6065 dollars from 1.6146. The dollar rose from 0.9776 to 0.9848 against the Swiss franc, and also rose to 1.0098 Canadian dollars from 1.0074.
