* Sterling hits lowest point since December vs Dollar * Euro drops to weakest level against dollar since July * Bitcoin hits record high before turning lower (Updates prices, adds comments) By Sinéad Carew NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The dollar index jumped sharply on Wednesday, hitting its highest level since July 2020, after U.S. consumer prices surged to their highest rate since 1990, fueling speculation that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates sooner than expected. The consumer price index rose 0.9% last month after gaining 0.4% in September and in the 12 months through October, the consumer price index accelerated 6.2%. the U.S. Labor Department said on Wednesday, while analysts expected on average the rise to be limited to 5.8%. At 1543 EDT (2043GMT), the dollar index, which measures the greenback against other major currencies, was up 0.96% at 94.8580 after reaching a high of 94.876, its highest level in more than 15 months. While the Fed last week restated its belief that the current inflation surge would be short-lived, many investors were suggesting stickier than expected inflation may force the Fed to increase interest rates. "An inflationary looking print gets investors speculating about an earlier rate hike than the Fed would like to do," said Erik Bregar, an independent FX analyst. The dollar added to its gains as the session wore on with help from the easing of a rally in gold prices and the expiration of euro/dollar options, according to Bregar. Then greenback got a further boost after 1300 EDT following a weak 30-year bond auction that pushed U.S. treasury yeilds higher. The euro was last down 1% at $1.1481 after earlier touching $1.1480, its lowest level since July 21 2020. Meanwhile sterling fell to its lowest level since December 23 while Britain and the European Union looked far from finding a post-Brexit agreement over Northern Ireland, adding to pressure from the U.S. inflation data. Sterling was last down 1.12% at $1.3406 after blowing past Friday"s low $1.3425, when the currency was hammered by the Bank of England"s surprise decision to keep rates unchanged. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin jumped to an all-time high of $69,000.00 after the U.S. inflation data but proceded to lose ground and was last down 1% at $66,221.75. While the Federal Reserve is already tapering its bond buying, Nancy Davis, founder of Quadratic Capital Management in Greenwich, Connecticut said "rate hikes might not be enough to reverse inflation" because the Fed doesn"t control supply chain bottlenecks and fiscal spending. “If inflation doesn"t subside, the Federal Reserve may need to taper at a more substantial rate and hike interest rates, which could hurt stocks and bonds,” said Davis. Against Japan"s yen the greenback was last up 0.89% to 113.875 yen after touching a session high of 114 yen. On Tuesday the dollar had hit a month-low against the yen. Greg Anderson, global head of foreign exchange strategy at BMO Capital Markets in New York said the "pretty shocking" inflation data including sharp housing price increases suggest that high consumer prices are "not likely to prove transitory." The Australian dollar was down 0.64% against the greenback at $0.733 after earlier hitting $0.73270, its lowest level since Oct. 13. The New Zealand dollar was down 0.95% at $0.7064. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 3:43PM (2043 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Dollar index 94.8580 93.9720 +0.96% 5.420% +94.8760 +93.9620 Euro/Dollar $1.1481 $1.1596 -1.00% -6.04% +$1.1595 +$1.1480 Dollar/Yen 113.8750 112.8800 +0.89% +10.22% +114.0100 +112.7800 Euro/Yen 130.74 130.87 -0.10% +3.01% +131.4100 +130.6500 Dollar/Swiss 0.9180 0.9112 +0.76% +3.77% +0.9186 +0.9110 Sterling/Dollar $1.3406 $1.3560 -1.12% -1.86% +$1.3565 +$1.3407 Dollar/Canadian 1.2495 1.2436 +0.48% -1.87% +1.2499 +1.2387 Aussie/Dollar $0.7330 $0.7380 -0.64% -4.67% +$0.7393 +$0.7330 Euro/Swiss 1.0540 1.0560 -0.19% -2.47% +1.0571 +1.0540 Euro/Sterling 0.8563 0.8551 +0.14% -4.18% +0.8564 +0.8532 NZ $0.7064 $0.7130 -0.95% -1.66% +$0.7132 +$0.7062 Dollar/Dollar Dollar/Norway 8.6470 8.5025 +1.69% +0.69% +8.6475 +8.5215 Euro/Norway 9.9289 9.8640 +0.66% -5.14% +9.9387 +9.8519 Dollar/Sweden 8.7109 8.5735 +0.68% +6.28% +8.7114 +8.5738 Euro/Sweden 10.0007 9.9334 +0.68% -0.75% +10.0020 +9.9400 (Reporting by Sinéad Carew, Gertrude Chavez Dreyfuss and Karen Brettell in New York, Julien Ponthus and Saikat Chatterjee in London; Lisa Pauline Mattackal in Bengaluru, Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Alistair Bell)