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1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar slumps after Fed statement

Xinhua, March 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

The U.S. dollar continued pullback against other major currencies on Friday as investors were still digesting a dovish Federal Reserve statement.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 1.41 percent at 97.858 in late trading and the dollar was on track for its first weekly decline in five.

The central bank removed the pledge of remain "patient" about raising interest rates in the statement released on Wednesday after its two-day policy meeting. But the Fed Chair Janet Yellen stressed in the following news conference that "just because we removed the word patient from the statement doesn't mean we're going to be impatient."

The Fed also noted that the U.S. economic growth had "moderated somewhat" since January and it said that "an increase in the target range for the federal funds rate remains unlikely at the April meeting."

Analysts said the U.S. dollar was under pressure as the announcement signaled that the widely expected June rate hike was mostly off the table.

On the economic front, the year-ahead inflation expectations of businesses registered 1.7 percent in March, showed the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's latest business inflation expectations survey released on Friday.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0811 dollars from 1.0638 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.4941 dollars from 1.4714 dollars. The Australian dollar increased to 0.7776 dollars from 0.7624 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 120.17 Japanese yen, lower than 120.96 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar edged down to 0.9765 Swiss francs from 0.9911 Swiss francs, and it dropped to 1.2578 Canadian dollars from 1.2738 Canadian dollars. Endite