The dollar hit its lowest level in more than five months against a basket of currencies on Thursday and was set to post its biggest quarterly percentage loss in more than five years after traders continued to digest dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. The euro continued four straight sessions of gains against the dollar and hit $1.1411, marking the first leap above $1.1400 in 5-1/2 months. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, hit its lowest level since mid-October of 94.319.
The index was on track to post a quarterly loss of more than 4 percent, or its largest since the third quarter of 2010. Analysts said traders continued to push out expectations for the next Fed interest rate increase after Yellen said on Tuesday the central bank would proceed cautiously in raising rates and highlighted external risks such as slower global growth.
"We're continuing to see fallout from Yellen's speech," said Greg Anderson, global head of foreign exchange strategy at BMO Capital Markets in New York. "Yellen appears not to want to raise rates in 2016." The Australian dollar hit a fresh nine-month high against the greenback of $0.7723. The dollar hit more than five-month lows against the Swiss franc for a second straight day, including a session low of 0.9575 franc. Against the yen, the dollar was last mostly flat at 112.41 yen, up from a session low of 112.12 yen.
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