NEW YORK, April 7 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar advanced in late trading on Thursday, amid market expectations that the Federal Reserve will speed up policy tightening.

       The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, rose 0.15 percent at 99.7510.

       In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.0881 dollars from 1.0905 U.S. dollars in the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.3073 dollars from 1.3066 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar fell to 0.7485 U.S. dollar from 0.7511 dollar.

       The U.S. dollar bought 123.96 Japanese yen, higher than 123.81 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.9338 Swiss franc from 0.9328 Swiss franc, and it increased to 1.2580 Canadian dollars from 1.2519 Canadian dollars.

       The Fed's March meeting minutes released on Wednesday pointed to tighter monetary policy. The minutes showed that many Fed officials believe a 50-basis-point rate hike is warranted, and a 95-billion-dollar reduction of balance sheet per month may be enacted soon.

       On the economic front, U.S. initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, fell by 5,000 to 166,000 in the week ending April 2, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast initial jobless claims to total a seasonally adjusted 200,000.