Investing.com - The dollar extended losses against the other major currencies on Thursday, as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reaffirmed comments made on Wednesday, sparking uncertainty over the timing of future rate hikes.
USD/JPY tumbled 1.24% to 111.93, still close to 15-months lows of 111.00 hit earlier in the session.
Yellen repeated to the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday that the U.S. economy is recovering while acknowledging that a weakened global economy and drop in U.S. equity markets is tightening financial conditions faster than the Fed wants.
In testimony before a congressional committee on Wednesday, Yellen said there are good reasons to believe the U.S. will stay on a path of moderate growth that will allow the Fed to pursue "gradual" adjustments to monetary policy.
The dollar had mildly strengthened earlier, after the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending February 6 decreased by 16,000 to 269,000 from the previous week’s total of 285,000.
Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 4,000 to 281,000 last week.
EUR/USD gained 0.47% to trade at 1.1347, not far from three-and-a-half month highs of 1.1354 hit earlier.
Elsewhere, the dollar was higher against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.58% at 1.4440 and was fractionally lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF easing 0.08% to 0.9734.
Meanwhile, the Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.28% at 0.7076 and with NZD/USD shedding 0.25% to 0.6668.
USD/CAD advanced 0.39% to trade at 1.3983 as oil prices fell to a three-week low below $27 a barrel on Thursday.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.34% at a four-month low of 95.51.