U.S. dollar declines ahead of Powell testimony

NEW YORK, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar index fell in late trading on Monday as investors were awaiting the closely-watched Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony later this week.

Powell will present his first Congress testimony on Tuesday, which is expected to give out information for the timing of future rate-hikes.

Market speculations for as many as three rate-hike by year-end has been bolstering the greenback in the past few weeks.

According to the Fed's semiannual monetary policy report released on Friday, the policy-makers reaffirmed their position in raising interest rates gradually.

"The Fed expects that, with further gradual adjustments in the stance of monetary policy, economic activity will expand at a moderate pace and labor market conditions will remain strong," the report said.

Inflation on a 12-month basis is expected to move up this year and to stabilize around the Committee's 2 percent objective over the next few years, it added.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.02 percent at 89.857 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.2310 dollars from 1.2298 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was down to 1.3966 dollars from 1.3969 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar increased to 0.7850 dollar from 0.7835 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 106.93 Japanese yen, higher than 106.73 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar increased to 0.9380 Swiss franc from 0.9361 Swiss franc, and it increased to 1.2680 Canadian dollars from 1.2664 Canadian dollars. Enditem