Dollar weakens against major currencies

The U.S. dollar retreated against other major currencies on Friday as investors adjusted positions after Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke's dovish speech and ahead of Japan's vote. The greenback weakened on investors' profit-taking operations after making gains in the previous session on positive job data and manufacturing data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee Thursday it was "way too early to make any judgment" as to whether tapering will start in September. He also told the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday that the asset purchases depend on economic and financial developments. Although the dollar slipped versus the yen on Friday, it gained about 1 percent against the yen in the whole week. Japan's upper house will hold elections on Sunday. Polls showed that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Democratic Party and its coalition New Komeito Party are expected to win, which would make it easier for Abe to launch further monetary easing measures. Meanwhile, the Australian dollar strengthened after China's central bank announced it would remove the lower limit on lending rates for commercial banks. Australia is China's major trading partner. In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.3136 dollars from 1.3105 dollars of the previous session and the British pound increased to 1.5262 dollars from 1.5217 dollars. The Australian dollar climbed to 0.9193 dollars from 0.9169 dollars. The dollar bought 100.24 Japanese yen, lower than 100.5 yen of the previous session. It edged down to 0.9413 Swiss francs from 0. 9454 Swiss francs and moved down to 1.0369 Canadian dollars from 1. 0383 Canadian dollars.