Dollar holds gains after Bernanke

The dollar broadly higher against the other major currencies on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated Wednesday that the bank still expects to start tapering its asset purchase program by the end of the year.

During European late morning trade, the dollar pushed higher against the euro, with EUR/USD sliding 0.10% to 1.3110.

In his semi-annual testimony to Congress on Wednesday Bernanke said the central bank could scale back its asset purchases by the end of the year if the economy continues to improve, but added that there was no “preset course.”

Bernanke said the economic recovery was continuing at a moderate pace but reiterated that monetary policy will remain accommodative for the foreseeable future.

The dollar was also higher against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.46% to 100.01. 

Elsewhere, the dollar turned lower against the pound following solid U.K. retail sales data, with GBP/USD rising 0.15% to 1.5234.

Official data showed that U.K. retail sales rose 0.2% in June, in line with expectations and were 2.2% higher compared to the same month last year.

The dollar was higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF climbing 0.22% to 0.9429. 

The greenback was stronger against its Australian, New Zealand and Canadian counterparts, with AUD/USD dropping 0.58% to 0.9185,NZD/USD down 0.15% to 0.7892 and USD/CAD edging up 0.04% to 1.0409.

The Aussie came under pressure after the National Australia Bank said Thursday its business confidence index fell to minus 1 in the second quarter, from a reading of 2 in the previous quarter. 

Separately, the Conference Board said its leading index was flat in May, after a 0.3% rise the previous month. 

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.12% to 82.88. 

The U.S. was to release the weekly government report on initial jobless claims and data on the Philly Fed manufacturing index later in the trading day.