Dollar rises after Powell's statements before Congress

The US dollar rose against most of its counterparts on Tuesday, following Federal Reserve Chairman's testimony before the House Financial Services Committee.

Powell said in the hearing that the Congress should spare the Fed the difficulty of underwriting loans to hundreds of thousands of small firms within the Fed's program.

The Chairman added that pumping more funding to businesses by the US Congress might be more appropriate to the current situation.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said that not providing fiscal support by the Congress poses a great risk to the US economy and businesses.

Data showed that the US existing homes sales index rose in August by 2.4% to 6 million y/y, the fastest monthly jump in 14 months.

The dollar index rose against a basket of currencies by 0.3% to 93.9 points as of 19:38 GMT, after it hit a high of 94.08 and a low of 93.4.