SINGAPORE, June 22 Reuters The dollar languished near a onemonth low against a basket of currencies on Thursday, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stuck to his usual messaging at his semiannual testimony, offering little room for surprise.

Sterling was perched near a oneyear high ahead of the Bank of England39;s BoE interest rate decision later in the day, with Wednesday39;s hot inflation report likely to keep policymakers on their toes.

In remarks to lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Powell said further U.S. rate increases are a pretty good guess of where the Fed is heading if the economy continues in its current direction. Those comments were in line with what the central bank said at its policy meeting last week.

The U.S. dollar index last stood at 102.09, not far from its recent fiveweek low of 102.00, after having fallen nearly 0.5 in the previous session.

Trading was thinned in Asia with Hong Kong and China closed for a holiday.

The euro rose to a more than onemonth high of 1.0995, extending Wednesday39;s 0.65 jump.

Markets had priced in a lot of hawkishness from Powell prior to his testimony, so his comments didn39;t really surprise too much on the hawkish end, said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.

At this stage, markets are not convinced that the FOMC can do two more rate hikes this year.

Elsewhere, sterling fell 0.1 to 1.2755.

The BoE is set to raise interest rates for a 13th time in a row later on…