USD rose on Monday against a basket of major and minor currencies to widen its gains for the third day in a row to a 17-month high as demand for the world’s best-performing currency continues to be on the foreign exchange market, In tightening monetary policy and raising interest rates.

USD index rose 0.5% at 11:59 GMT, trading at 97.25 points, the opening level at 96.80 points, the highest at 97.39 points since June 21 and the lowest at 96.78 points.

The index ended Friday’s trading up 0.3%, its second consecutive daily gain, after strong data on US producer prices in October.

Over the past week, the index rose 0.5%, its fourth consecutive weekly gain, supported by the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy statement and strong economic data.

The Reserve Bank’s monetary policy meeting last Thursday left interest rates unchanged at 2.25%. Policymakers hailed the robustness of the labor market, rising spending and steady inflation near the target, and insisted on gradually raising interest rates to keep pace with the country’s strong growth path. .

This statement reinforced the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will raise US interest rates at its December meeting for the fourth time this year, as well as the prospect of continued monetary policy tightening in 2019 by raising interest rates three times.

The prospects were also boosted by strong economic data showing US producer prices in October at the highest pace since January 2017. Producer prices are a leading indicator of consumer prices, the main gauge of inflation.