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By Bloomberg

The dollar advanced against the yen to within 2 percent of a 13 year-high amid speculation Janet Yellen will stick to her message that interest rates will rise this year even in the absence of consumer-price pressure.

The Federal Reserve chair is scheduled to address U.S. lawmakers Wednesday and Thursday in Washington, after saying last week it will likely be appropriate to increase borrowing costs “later this year.” The probability of a Fed boost at its September meeting fell to 33 percent from 35 percent on Monday, according to futures data compiled by Bloomberg. For December, the odds slipped to 67 percent from 69 percent.

“We expect the message on Friday to be maintained in her speech today,” said Jeremy Stretch, head of foreign-exchange strategy at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in London. “The dollar will stay supported unless she turns dovish by focusing on inflation being well below target.”

The dollar rose 0.2 percent to 123.58 yen as of 9:59 a.m. London time. It reached 125.86 on June 5, the highest since 2002. The greenback fell 0.2 percent to $1.1028 against the euro.

The central bank has held its Fed funds target at virtually zero since December 2008 to bolster economic growth. Last week, Yellen said that she expects it will be appropriate to begin normalizing monetary policy later this year.

Kansas City Fed President Esther George said Tuesday it’s time for the central bank to raise rates.

There’s a “slightly more hawkish tone that we’ve heard from Fed speakers as of late,” said Todd Elmer, a Singapore- based strategist at Citigroup Inc., the world’s biggest currency trader. “We are starting to see some drift forward in terms of the expected timing of the first interest rate hike, and this is translating to dollar appreciation.”