1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises on Fed Chair Yellen's testimony

The U.S. dollar climbed against most major currencies Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen indicated an interest-rate hike later this year.

"If the economy evolves as we expect, economic conditions likely would make it appropriate at some point this year to raise the federal funds rate," Yellen said in her Congressional testimony Wednesday.

The greenback was well supported by Yellen's words. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six other major currencies, was up 0.55 percent at 97.171 in late trading.

On the U.S. economic front, the U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand advanced 0.4 percent in June, beating market consensus of 0.3, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

U.S. industrial production increased 0.3 percent in June but fell at an annual rate of 1.4 percent for the second quarter of 2015, said the Federal Reserve Wednesday.

The euro dipped more than 0.53 percent against the greenback in late trading as uncertainties over Greek debt crisis still hover. Investors were awaiting the news whether Greek parliament will approve a draft deal to avert bankruptcy and a possible Grexit Wednesday evening.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.0950 dollars from 1.1009 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound rose to 1.5636 dollars from 1.5629 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7374 dollar from 0.7449 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 123.70 Japanese yen, higher than 123.33 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar hiked to 0.9516 Swiss franc from 0.9452 Swiss franc and increased to 1.2934 Canadian dollars from 1.2746 Canadian dollars. Endite