1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar falls on Yellen's testimony

The U.S. dollar declined against most major currencies on Tuesday as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said during testimony that the central bank would remain patient in raising interest rates.

In her semi-annual monetary policy testimony, Yellen repeated that the Fed's pledge to be patient means an interest rate hike is unlikely for "at least the next couple" of the Fed's policy meetings.

Yellen told the Senate Banking Committee that despite the economic development, too many Americans remain unemployed or under-employed, wage growth is still sluggish and inflation remains well below the Fed's longer-run 2 percent objective.

The greenback was under pressure after the remarks. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six other currencies, was down 0.12 percent at 94.458 in late trading.

On the economic front, U.S. consumer confidence dropped in February, said the New York-based research group Conference Board Tuesday in a report. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index registered 96.4 in February, down from 103.8 in January.

U.S. home prices didn't change much last December. The 10-City Composite gained 4.3 percent year-over-year, up from 4.2 percent in November, while the 20-City Composite gained 4.5 percent year- over-year, compared with 4.3 percent in November, the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices reported Tuesday.

In late New York trading, the euro went up to 1.1338 dollars from 1.1335 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was flat at 1.5455 dollars. The Australian dollar rose to 0.7826 dollar from 0.7798 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 118.93 Japanese yen, higher than 118.87 yen of the previous session. The greenback edged down to 0.9501 Swiss franc from 0.9506 Swiss franc, and decreased to 1.2508 Canadian dollars from 1.2577 Canadian dollars. Endite