By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar climbed on Friday to its highest level since 2003 on continued bets on faster inflation and higher interest rates, while Treasuries resumed a selloff that left benchmark yields on track for their steepest two-week increase in 13 years.
A growing perception that the economic policies of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will lift consumer prices pushed the dollar higher.
On Wall Street, the tech- and biotech-heavy Nasdaq Composite hit a record intraday high before slipping lower. The Dow industrials and S&P 500 were also near record highs despite the day's decline.
"People are still trying to wrap their arms around what the U.S. elections mean for policy going forward," said Jason Pride, director of investment strategy at Glenmede in Philadelphia.
"This market is supportive of equities because we're in an ongoing economic expansion. Earnings are improving. Valuations on the whole might be a little rich in the U.S., but the market can still see good returns even at these valuations."
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The Dow Jones industrial average fell 13.83 points, or 0.07 percent, to 18,889.99, the S&P 500 lost 3.25 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,183.87 while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 9.07 points, or 0.17 percent, to 5,320.83.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.54 percent, while MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell 0.44 percent.
Emerging market stocks <.MSCIEF> fell 0.3 percent and remained near a four-month low hit Monday.
The U.S. dollar's rise against the yen raised hopes of an earnings boost to Japanese exporters, helping lift the Nikkei average <.N225> to a 10-month high. The blue-chip Japanese stock index closed 0.6 percent higher.
BOND SELLOFF RESUMES, GREENBACK FLIES
Last week's unexpected U.S. election victory from political neophyte Donald Trump has led to a repricing of assets, most notably in currency and bond markets.
Federal Reserve policymaker James Bullard said on Friday he is leaning towards supporting a rate rise in December, adding that a plethora of potential changes under Trump could affect future policy.
The euro fell 0.3 percent to $1.0593, while the yen weakened to 110.73, having earlier fallen to 110.92 per dollar. Against the Chinese yuan, the greenback hit 6.895 , its highest since mid 2008.
The dollar index hit a high of 101.48, its highest level since April 2003. It has risen over 4 percent in the last two weeks, its biggest fortnightly rise since March 2015.
The election outcome briefly spooked financial markets worldwide but they quickly reversed course as traders seized on tax cuts, deregulation and infrastructure spending which Trump campaigned on as positives for the greenback.
"It has caused a wave of dollar buying across the board," said Richard Scalone, co-head of foreign exchange at TJM Brokerage in Chicago.
To be sure, it is unclear how many if any of these proposals would materialize. Trump's stance on immigration and trade, if they become law, could hurt the dollar, analysts said.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to 2.355 percent, its highest since December. It is up near 50 basis points over the last two weeks - the biggest such rise in 13 years. Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 18/32 in price.
U.S. crude last rose 0.3 percent to $45.56 a barrel and Brent traded at $46.76, up 0.6 percent on the day.
Spot gold fell 0.6 percent to $1,208.68 an ounce. U.S. gold futures fell 0.7 percent to $1,208.40 an ounce.
Copper fell 1.3 percent to $5,423.15 a tonne.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; additional reporting by Sinead carew, Richard Leong and Dion Rabouin; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
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