Dollar jumps versus yen and pound

The dollar scaled a 27-month high against the yen and two-year peak versus sterling on Monday as the dollar's bull run continued on the prospect of rising US interest rates.
The euro came under pressure as investors bet an expected European Central Bank interest rate hike on Thursday would not signal the start of an aggressive cycle of monetary tightening in the currency bloc.
"The Fed will continue to hike rates in the very near-term," said Niels From, senior currency strategist at West LB in Duesseldorf.
"While the ECB will hike rates on Thursday it will probably not be indicating an aggressive tightening cycle, certainly nothing compared with what we saw in 1999 and 2000, so the market is cautious," he added.
Underscoring this view, French Finance Minister Thierry Breton said earlier the ECB would probably raise rates by 25 basis points, but said this would not signal the start of a monetary tightening cycle.
ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet made little fresh comment on the euro zone rate outlook in a speech delivered earlier on Monday in Paris.
Interest rates are expected to rise from 2.0 percent in the eurozone, the first increase in five years, but the cost of borrowing will still be significantly below 4.0 percent in the United States. In Japan interest rates are set to remain near zero in the medium term.
The dollar rose to a high of 119.93 yen, its highest since August 2003, extending this year's gain to more than 17 percent. By 1245 GMT, it had eased to trade around 119.73 yen.
Against the euro the dollar was up 0.1 percent at $1.1715, within a cent of a two-year high set earlier this month at $1.1638. The dollar hit a two-year high against the British pound at $1.7049 before giving up some gains to trade at $1.7091.
Some analysts said the dollar was also propped up by US firms repatriating month-end overseas earnings after last week's Thanksgiving holiday under a scheme, which allows companies a one-off tax break on repatriated income during 2005.
"Capital flows are also favouring the dollar at the moment," said From.
The yen was hurt by expectations the Bank of Japan was unlikely to end its ultra-easy monetary policy soon despite data pointing to a economic recovery and Tokyo shares hitting five-year highs.