1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar mixed on Yellen's speech

The U.S. dollar traded mixed against other major currencies on Wednesday as investors were digesting the Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen's speech.

In a testimony before the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, Yellen signaled that the Fed still keeps door open to further interest rate hikes, but flagging risks could delay any further moves.

"Financial conditions in the United States have recently become less supportive of growth, with declines in broad measures of equity prices, higher borrowing rates for riskier borrowers, and a further appreciation of the dollar," Yellen said.

"These developments, if they prove persistent, could weigh on the outlook for economic activity and the labor market," she added.

The testimony failed to offer any signal on whether the central bank will change the interest rate on its next policy meeting on March 15-16.

Meanwhile, market turmoil around the globe continued to raise demand for safe-haven currencies such as Japanese yen. The yen extended gains against the greenback Wednesday and touched the highest level since November 2014 during the session.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.11 percent at 95.962 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro declined to 1.1272 dollars from 1.1289 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.4529 dollars from 1.4457 dollars. The Australian dollar went up to 0.7108 dollars from 0.7058 dollars.

The dollar bought 113.76 Japanese yen, lower than 114.90 yen of the previous session. The dollar moved up to 0.9732 Swiss francs from 0.9722 Swiss francs, and it climbed to 1.3915 Canadian dollars from 1.3893 Canadian dollars. Endite