SINGAPORELONDON, March 7 Reuters The U.S. dollar held steady on Tuesday ahead of testimony before Congress by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, while the Aussie slid after the Reserve Bank of Australia hinted it might nearly be done with monetary tightening.

The Australian dollar was the day39;s major G10 mover, sliding as much as 0.79 to 0.6679, its lowest since late December even as the central bank raised its cash rate as expected by 25 basis points to 3.60, the highest in more than a decade.

But in a dovish move, the RBA changed a reference to further rate increases, saying instead that further tightening would be needed, suggesting the central bank might be nearing the end of its cycle of increases.

An initial glance at RBA39;s statement suggests they are nearing the end of the tightening cycle, and perhaps one step closer to publicly discussing a pause, said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index.

Elsewhere, the euro, sterling and yen were all broadly steady with the common currency at 1.0671 , the pound at 1.20245 , and one dollar worth 135.7 yen .

That meant U.S. dollar index , which measures the unit against six major rivals, was also flat at 104.3, having slipped 0.26 a day earlier. The index is down 0.6 for the month so far following a 2.8 gain in February.

Investor attention on Tuesday and Wednesday will be firmly on Fed chair Powell39;s testimony before Congress, with the February nonfarm payrolls report due on Friday also keenly…