SINGAPORE, Feb 8 Reuters The dollar eased on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell showed little sign of a hawkish pushback against a resilient labour market in the United States, raising hopes that interest rates may not rise much further.

In a questionandanswer session before the Economic Club of Washington on Tuesday, Powell acknowledged that interest rates might need to move higher than expected if economic conditions remained strong but reiterated that he felt a process of disinflation was underway.

The U.S. dollar struggled to recover its losses in Asia trade on Wednesday, after slipping in the previous session as Powell spoke.

Sterling rose 0.02 to 1.20525, rebounding from Tuesday39;s onemonth trough of 1.19615.

Similarly, the euro was last marginally higher at 1.0730, after falling to 1.06695 in the previous session, its lowest since Jan. 9.

Powell didn39;t necessarily say something that was tangibly new… I think we39;re becoming quite accustomed to the idea that the Fed now is certainly data dependent, said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.

The markets and the central bank are all in a position now where they39;re just watching the data, so for now we39;re less sensitive to Fed officials and far more sensitive to data.

Against a basket of currencies, the U.S. dollar index steadied at 103.31, after slipping 0.3 in the previous session.

The greenback had a shortlived rally following Friday39;s blockbuster jobs report, which…