New York: The US dollar decreased against most major currencies on Tuesday as investors were digesting Federal Reserve Janet Yellen’s remarks during her semi-annual testimony.
In her testimony before the US Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, Yellen reiterated the cautious approach to raising interest rates that the central bank signalled last week after its policy meeting.
She said that the central bank expected interest rates to “remain low” for some time, in view of the weak global economy and sluggish productivity growth, Xinhua reported.
Meanwhile, the closely-watched Britain’s referendum will be held on Thursday to decide whether Britain should leave or remain in the European Union.
New polls released over the weekend showed those wanting to stay in the European Union holding a slim majority over the “Leave” campaign. The polls indicated a swing back to “Remain” after the killing of British politician Jo Cox.
In late New York trading, the euro fell to $1.1259 from $1.1313 of the previous session, and the British pound increased to $1.4677 from $1.4674. The Australian dollar went up to $0.7470 from $0.7458.
The dollar bought 104.76 Japanese yen, higher than 103.93 yen of the previous session. The dollar slipped to 0.9613 Swiss francs from 0.9627 Swiss francs, and it inched down to 1.2794 Canadian dollars from 1.2809 Canadian dollars.
–IANS