Investing.com - The euro was lower against the broadly stronger dollar on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday the bank could begin tapering its bond-buying program in the "next few meetings. EUR/USD hit 1.2821 during late Asian trade; the pair’s lowest since May 20; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2832, shedding 0.20%. The pair was likely to find support at 1.2795, the low of May 17 and a six-week low. In testimony to the U.S. Joint Economic Committee on Wednesday, Bernanke said a decision to scale back the Fed’s asset purchase program could be taken in the "next few meetings" depending on economic data. The dollar fell against the other major currencies earlier Wednesday after Bernanke said in prepared remarks that a premature tightening of monetary policy carried substantial risks to the economic recovery. "A premature tightening of monetary policy could lead interest rates to rise temporarily but would also carry a substantial risk of slowing or ending the economic recovery and causing inflation to fall further," he said. Meanwhile, Wednesday’s minutes from the U.S. central bank’s May meeting showed a "number" of policymakers were prepared to taper bonds purchases as soon as June. The euro was sharply lower against the yen, with EUR/JPY dropping 1.65% to 130.49. The yen rallied against the euro and the dollar on Thursday as Japanese government bond yields turned sharply lower, and data showed that China’s manufacturing sector contracted for the first time in seven months in May. The preliminary reading of China’s HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 49.6 in May, below the 50 level that separates contraction from growth down from a final reading of 50.4 in April. The euro zone was to release data on manufacturing and service sector activity later in the day.

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