NEW YORK, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar weakened against its major rivals in late trading on Friday as market participants were speculating the probabilities of immediate interest rate cuts.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said this week that crosscurrents such as trade tensions and concerns about global growth have been weighing on the U.S. economic activity and outlook.

In his prepared remarks to lawmakers at the House Committee on Financial Services, where he testified on the Semiannual Monetary Policy Report, the Fed chief said many participants of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) "saw that the case for a somewhat more accommodative monetary policy had strengthened."

Powell said Fed officials were mindful of ongoing crosscurrents from global growth and trade at the May FOMC meeting, adding that since then "these crosscurrents have re-emerged, creating greater uncertainty."

The remarks bolstered market expectations for imminent rate cuts from the U.S. central bank. Yet, stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation data released on Thursday dimmed that outlook.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.24 percent at 96.8179 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro increased to 1.1271 dollars from 1.1258 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.2571 dollars from 1.2525 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar was up to 0.7023 dollar from 0.6975 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 107.81 Japanese yen, lower than 108.45 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar fell to 0.9844 Swiss franc from 0.9900 Swiss franc, and it decreased to 1.3032 Canadian dollars from 1.3070 Canadian dollars. Enditem

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