US dollar retreats on Yellen's testimony

The US dollar retreated against most major currencies on Friday, continuously affected by remarks of Federal Reserve chairman nominee Janet Yellen at Thursday's congressional testimony. Yellen, current Federal Reserve Vice Chairwoman, Thursday defended the Fed's quantitative easing program before the Senate Banking Committee, which boosted speculations that the Fed would continue the bond-buying program and exerted pressure on the dollar. Yellen said although the U.S. economy is significantly stronger and continues to improve, the nation has "farther to go to regain the ground lost in the crisis and the recession." She also said that "it's important not to remove support, especially when the recovery is fragile and the tools available to monetary policy, should the economy falter, are limited given that short-term interest rates are at zero." Disappointing U.S. economic data released on Friday also weighted on the greenback. Manufacturing activity in the New York region entered into negative territory in November for the first time since May, with the general business conditions index falling by four points to minus 2.2, according to a survey released Friday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Moreover, the Fed reported on Friday that industrial production unexpectedly dropped 0.1 percent in October due to slowdown of utilities and mining. In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.3490 dollars from 1.3456 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.6112 dollars from 1.6056 dollars. The Australian dollar climbed to 0.9361 dollar from 0.9318 dollar. The dollar bought 100.23 Japanese yen, higher than 100.04 yen of the previous session. The dollar moved down to 0.9152 Swiss franc from 0.9163 Swiss franc and it went down to 1.0448 Canadian dollars from 1.0483 Canadian dollars.