Investing.com - The dollar remained close to nine-year highs against the other major currencies on Monday, as expectations for a U.S. rate hike by next year continued to lend broad support to the greenback.
Trading volumes were expected to remain light this week ahead of the New Year's holiday.
The dollar remained broadly supported after final data last week showed that U.S. gross domestic product rose 5.0% in the third quarter, exceeding expectations for a growth rate of 4.3% and up from 3.9% in the three months to June.
The strong data fuelled further optimism over the strength of the U.S. economic recovery and added to expectations for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next year.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was steady at 90.32, not far from the nine-year high of 90.38 hit overnight.
EUR/USD almost unchanged at 1.2187, just off two-year lows of 1.2167 hit earlier in the session.
Markets were jittery as Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said in a live broadcast in Athens that he will recommend parliamentary elections are held on January 25, almost 18 months before his coalition's term was due to end.
The announcement came as Samaras failed in his third attempt to persuade lawmakers to back his candidate for head of state, forcing the legislature’s dissolution.
The pound slipped lower against the dollar, with GBP/USD down 0.18% to 1.5530.
Elsewhere, USD/JPY rose 0.27% to 120.63, while the Swiss franc eased off two-year lows, with USD/CHF at 0.9868, steady for the day.
On Saturday, the Japanese government approved stimulus spending worth $29 billion to help the country's lagging regions and households, whith hopes of boosting the country's gross domestic product by 0.7%.
The Australian dollar pulled away from four-and-a-half year lows, with AUD/USD gaining 0.27% to 0.8147, while NZD/USD added 0.28% to 0.7793 and USD/CAD eased 0.07% to trade at 1.1618.