Investing.com - The dollar was little changed against a basket of other major currencies on Thursday, as markets eyed the release of U.S. economic reports later in the day, while comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen continued to weigh.
The dollar remained under pressure amid lowered expectations for a mid-year U.S. rate hike after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday that it was "unlikely" that economic conditions would warrant an interest rate increase for "at least the next couple of FOMC meetings".
In a second day of testimony to the Financial Services Committee on Wednesday Yellen reiterated this message, saying that wage growth and inflation must rise before the bank can hike rates, despite signs of improvement in the labor market.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 94.26.
EUR/USD was almost unchanged at 1.1355.
The euro showed little reaction to a report by Germany's Federal Statistics Office on Thursday showing that the number of unemployed people fell by 20,000 this month, compared to expectations for a drop of 10,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 6.5% in February, in line with expectations.
A separate report showed that the German Gfk consumer climate index rose to 9.7 from 9.3 in January, slightly ahead of forecasts of 9.6.
Sentiment on the single currency remained vulnerable amid lingering doubts over the agreement to extend Greece’s bailout as both the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank warned that the country's reform plans are not detailed enough.
The dollar held steady against the yen, with USD/JPY at 118.77, while USD/CHF slipped 0.23% to 0.9462.
In other trade, sterling slipped lower but remained within close distance of a two-month high, with GBP/USD easing 0.08% to 1.5517.
The Office for National Statistics earlier reported that the U.K. gross domestic product expanded by 0.5% in the final three months of 2014, unchanged from an initial estimate and in line with expectations. The U.K.’s economy grew by 0.7% in the previous quarter.
Year-over-year, U.K. economic growth grew 2.7% in the three months to December, unchanged from a preliminary reading. The U.K. economy expanded at an annualized rate of 2.6% in the third quarter of 2014.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were broadly stronger, with AUD/USD adding 0.18% to 0.7900 and NZD/USD climbing 0.58% to 0.7599.
The kiwi found support after data showed that New Zealand's trade balance swung into a surplus of NZ$56 million last month from a deficit of NZ$195 million in December.
Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar held steady, with USD/CAD at 1.2431.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release data on the consumer price index, as well as reports on initial jobless claims and durable goods orders.