Dollar climbs strongly on high demand

New York: The US dollar surged to a one-and-a-half year peak versus a basket of currencies on Tuesday due to strong demand from financial institutions.

Analysts said the demand for the greenback was also driven by signs that mom-entum was building for a second programme to stimulate the US economy.

The ICE Futures US dollar index climbed to 83.846, its highest since March 2007, according to Reuters data. The index, which measures the greenback's value against a basket of six currencies, was last up one per cent at 83.781.

The euro dropped to its lowest level since March 2007 at $1.3161, according to Reuters data. It was last down 1.3 per cent at $1.3169.