Investing.com - The dollar was weaker against all the other major currencies on Thursday after comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke cast doubts over the timing of a possible reduction to the bank’s easing program. During European morning trade, the dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.47% to 1.3040, down from session highs of 1.3206. The dollar fell against all the major currencies after Bernanke said in a speech that the Fed will continue to maintain accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future, citing low levels of inflation and the high unemployment rate. The comments came after the minutes of the central bank’s June policy meeting showed that Fed policymakers remain divided over when to begin tapering its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program. Around half of Fed policymakers believe the bank should start to scale back bond purchases by the end of the year, while many others believe the labor market still remains too weak. The dollar had rallied in recent weeks after Bernanke said following the bank’s June 19 meeting that the Fed could begin to pull back bond buying by the end of 2013 if the economy continued to pick up. The European Central Bank’s monthly bulletin said Thursday that the extended period of time the bank expects interest rates to remain at present or lower levels is “flexible� and indicated that further rate cuts are possible. Elsewhere, the dollar was weaker against the pound, with GBP/USD rising 0.42% to 1.5081, after hitting session highs of 1.5194. The dollar was down against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.29% to 99.37, after falling as low as 98.28 earlier. The yen was boosted after the Bank of Japan left monetary policy on hold following its policy setting meeting on Thursday, in a widely anticipated decision. The BoJ also upgraded its assessment of the economy, saying it is starting to moderately recover. The dollar was weaker against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.76% to 0.9511. The greenback was broadly lower against its Australian, New Zealand and Canadian counterparts, with AUD/USD climbing 0.52% to 0.9219, NZD/USD up 0.62% to 0.7882 and USD/CAD dropping 0.79% to 1.0382. In Australia, official data showed that the economy added 10,300 jobs in June, confounding expectations for a 2,500 decline. However, the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7% last month, the highest level since September 2009, from 5.6% in May. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 1.13% to 83.25. The U.S. was to release the weekly report on initial jobless claims later in the trading day.

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