The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, increased 0.41 percent at 97.7860.
In late New York trading, the euro decreased to 1.1062 U.S. dollars from 1.1123 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was down to 1.3337 dollars from 1.3372 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar was up to 0.7326 U.S. dollar from 0.7298 dollar.
The U.S. dollar bought 115.42 Japanese yen, lower than 115.55 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar fell to 0.9190 Swiss franc from 0.9204 Swiss franc, and it rose to 1.2681 Canadian dollars from 1.2651 Canadian dollars.
The above market reactions came as Powell continued day two of his semiannual testimony on monetary policy Thursday.
In his prepared remarks at a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, the Fed chief reaffirmed the central bank's plan to raise interest rates in the upcoming policy meeting, noting that he is inclined to support a 25-basis-point rate hike.
On the economic front, U.S. initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, registered 215,000 in the week ending Feb. 26, a decrease of 18,000 from the prior week's revised level, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast initial jobless claims to total a seasonally adjusted 225,000.
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