TOKYO, July 10 Reuters The dollar was on the front foot on Wednesday, but hovered near a threeweek low, as the cautious tone from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell kept risk sentiment in check, while the New Zealand dollar weakened at the prospect of a rate cut there.

In the first day of his testimony to Congress overnight, Powell said a rate cut is not appropriate until the Fed gains greater confidence that inflation is headed toward the 2 target, setting the stage for Thursday39;s CPI report for June.

Powell, however, noted the cooling job market. We now face twosided risks and can no longer focus solely on inflation, he said.

The dollar index , which measures the U.S. currency against six major peers including the euro and yen, was little changed at 105.09, after rising about 0.1 on Tuesday. It had dipped on Monday to the lowest since June 13 following unexpectedly soft U.S. payrolls data.

Traders now have around 73 odds for a rate cut by September, slipping from 76 a day earlier, CME FedWatch tool showed, with a second reduction mostly priced in by December.

Powell was careful not to precommit to a path they could still readily be knocked away from by the data flow, said Taylor Nugent, senior markets economist at National Australia Bank.

Even as markets look to September as the likely kickoff date, it is difficult for pricing to firm much further with three CPI prints and two payrolls to get through, which could readily delay things.

Following his testimony…