"At our meeting later this month, the (Federal Open Market) Committee will evaluate whether employment and inflation are continuing to evolve in line with our expectations, in which case a further adjustment of the federal funds rate would likely be appropriate," said Yellen in a speech at the Executives' Club of Chicago.

The Fed is scheduled to hold its monetary policy meeting on March 14-15.

Concerns about a March rate hike are rising in recent weeks after several Fed officials made some hawkish comments on rate hikes.

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard -- a known dove in the central bank's monetary policy committee -- reportedly said Wednesday evening that the Federal Reserve could raise rates "soon," citing an improved global economy.

Market expectations for a March rate hike were around 80 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, decreased 7.20 percent to end at 10.96 on Friday.

On the economic front, the Non-Manufacturing Index, which measures activity in the U.S. service sector, registered 57.6 percent in February, beating market expectations of 56.5, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said in its monthly survey Friday.

In the week ending Feb. 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 223,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

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