The US dollar maintained its strengthening momentum as investors continued to cling to expectations for a 50 basis point hike by the Federal Reserve (Fed) at its next policy meeting.
During the Asian session, the dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of major currencies, strengthened at 105.66, a 3-month high.
On the second day of presentations, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell offered no surprises as his remarks were more or less identical to what was said on Tuesday.
He reiterated his statement on a higher rate hike, but stressed discussions were still ongoing with the decision dependent on data to be released before the central bank meeting in two weeks.
Meanwhile, the US private sector ADP data unexpectedly rose stronger than expected with an increase of 242,000 jobs in February against the forecast of a rise of 200,000.
This indirectly points to the NFP jobs report due out later Friday, possibly better than expected.
Turning to the market situation, the euro and the pound remained weak, trading at 2-month and 4-month lows, respectively.
Additionally, the Aussie and New Zealand dollars also continued to trade bleakly at 4-month lows after China's annual inflation data showed a lower-than-expected reading in February.
The Canadian dollar slipped further to a 5-month low after the Bank of Canada (BOC) decided to keep interest rates unchanged.
The yen pared some losses but remained trading at a 3-month low against the greenback as investors focused on the Bank of Japan (BOJ) policy meeting on Friday.
