SINGAPORE, Feb 22 Reuters The dollar edged broadly lower on Thursday as traders awaited a slew of business activity surveys to gauge the health of major economies and what that may mean for the global interest rate outlook.

Flash Purchasing Managers39; Index PMI figures across the U.S., the UK and the euro zone are due later in the day and will provide further clarity on their respective manufacturing and service sectors.

Ahead of the releases, the euro gained 0.14 to 1.0835, while sterling rose 0.08 to 1.2647.

Against the yen, the dollar edged 0.04 lower to 150.23.

A glance at the composite PMIs for the U.S., Europe and the UK show that they39;re either expanding at a faster pace or slowing at a diminishing rate, said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index.

That warns of upside pressure for growth and inflation which ties back into the 39;higherforlonger39; narrative that traders don39;t want to hear.

The dollar index slipped 0.15 to 103.81. It has fallen over 0.4 for the week thus far, with its latest blip lower owing to a global decline in bond yields earlier this week.

Still, the index is up more than 2 for the year, as traders pare back aggressive bets for a slew of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year, which has in turn kept the greenback supported.

Minutes of the Fed39;s latest policy meeting released on Wednesday reinforced the message that the central bank is in no hurry to ease rates that officials still expect will begin to be…