1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar falls against euro as ECB's stimulus prospect dims

The U.S. dollar decreased against the euro on Wednesday as European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said the bank needed more assessment before unleashing further stimulus.

"More time is needed to determine in particular whether the loss of growth momentum in emerging markets is of a temporary or permanent nature," Draghi said in his quarterly testimony to European Parliament lawmakers on Wednesday.

ECB officials also need to "assess the driving forces behind the drop in the international price of commodities and behind the recent episodes of severe financial turbulence," he added.

Analysts said Draghi's comments lowered market expectation for an immediate easing, thus driving the euro up against the greenback.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.15 percent at 96.139 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1208 dollars from 1.1131 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.5262 dollars from 1.5371 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.6999 dollar from 0.7087 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 120.14 Japanese yen, higher than 120.02 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.9767 Swiss franc from 0.9741 Swiss franc, and it climbed to 1.3332 Canadian dollars from 1.3263 Canadian dollars. Endit