NEW YORK (March 3): The dollar weakened against a basket of major currencies on Friday ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen that could affirm expectations for an interest rate hike on March 15. Speeches from Yellen and Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer on Friday are now widely expected to be the final clues to the timing of the next rate hike. Futures traders now are pricing in an 80 percent chance of a Fed hike in March, up from 35 percent on Tuesday, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool. "The markets are looking for validation for the increase in Fed rate hike expectations from comments from Fed Chair Yellen. Rate hike expectations also weighed on the Australian and New Zealand dollars, both of which fell against the greenback.

Source: The Edge Markets March 03, 2017 15:45 UTC