By Ben Eisen, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. dollar moved higher on Friday after the top Federal Reserve official suggested the economy is moving toward the central bank's objectives, pushing the greenback to its biggest weekly rise against the yen since July 2013.

In a speech at Jackson Hole on Friday, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen gave a nod to progress on the central bank's dual mandates of full employment and stable inflation. She suggested the focus is now shifting toward the remaining elements of so-called labor market slack, which are tracked by a variety of indicators such as wage growth.

"Dr. Yellen's recognition of the improvement in labor and inflationary conditions, while still more dovish in tone than many other Committee members, suggests a closer alignment to a Committee that is clearly angling toward more near-term policy normalization," said Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of fundamental fixed income at BlackRock, in e-mailed comments.

The dollar climbed against its rivals after Yellen spoke. The dollar (USDJPY) bought 103.87 Japanese yen, up from Yen103.81 late Thursday in New York. The dollar pushed to an intraday high of Yen104.19, but gave up much of its gains as the session wore on. The yen rose 1.5% on the week, the biggest weekly rise since July 2013.

The greenback has been on the rise against key rivals since he beginning of July, but has accelerated its push higher as investors took stock of the quickening pace of growth in the U.S. relative to other developed economies, namely Japan and the euro zone. Read: You need to start watching the U.S. dollar.

The euro (EURUSD) fell to $1.3244 on Friday from $1.3281 on Thursday. The British pound (GBPUSD) changed hands at $1.6576, down from $1.6585.

The U.S. dollar index (DXY), which pits the currency against a basket of rivals, rose to 82.312, from 82.146.

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