The U.S. Dollar held close to 20-year highs on Friday against major rivals, ahead of the long-awaited speech by Chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium.

Traders will be looking for any indications as to the Fed’s monetary tightening plans to curb soaring inflation during Powell’s speech.

The Dollar index – measuring the currency against six major peers – has steadily increased over the last fortnight, just short of the 20-year top of 109.29 reached in the middle of last month. At the time of writing, the index stood at 108.470.

"(Powell) is likely to focus on the short-term challenges and endeavour to leave no doubt about the Fed's determination in the fight against inflation," Esther Reichelt, a Commerzbank forex analyst said in a note.

"If he succeeds convincingly, he could support the Dollar, at least in the short term."

Up to now at the Jackson Hole gathering, Federal Reserve officials have been somewhat evasive in regard to the possible size of rate hikes, but have said they will push up rates in order to curb inflation, Reuters news agency reports.

Elsewhere, mounting energy prices as a result of the war in Ukraine have weighed on economic prospects and impacted both the Euro and the Pound.

Sterling declined by as much as 0.5% to $1.17750, as regulators in the UK stated consumer energy bills would increase 80% and cautioned of a “crisis” that required urgent action from the government.

The single currency moved up 0.2% to $0.99865, after not managing to break back above parity with the Dollar this week, and falling under the level on Monday.

Moreover, the Dollar rose 0.3% against the Japanese Yen to stand at 136.900 Yen per Dollar, at the time of writing.