Investing.com - The euro's recent rally against the U.S. dollar halted at 1.3572 on Wednesday, shortly before Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was set to testify before the financial committee of the House of Representatives.
After EUR/USD hit 1.3572, a daily high, the pair pulled back to 1.3542, still gaining 0.25%. The pair was likely to find resistance at 1.3839, the high of Feb. 9, and support at 1.3445, Friday's low and a 9-month low.
But the single European currency extended gains against sterling, as EUR/GBP climbed 0.37% to hit 0.8790.
Later in the day, Bernanke was expected shed light on the central bank's sudden decision on Friday to hike an emergency bank-lending rate, which triggered speculation on monetary tightening.
The Fed chief was also likely to reiterate the variety of steps the central bank could take to roll back the extraordinary monetary support it provided in order to combat the global financial crisis.
Also Wednesday, an industry group showed that mortgage applications in the United States fell for a third straight week during the week ending Feb. 19, in a further sign of the housing market's weakness.