U.S. dollar falls ahead of Fed statement

The U.S. dollar dropped against most major currencies Wednesday as investors were awaiting the closely-watched Federal Reserve's meeting statement due Thursday.

The U.S. central bank started its two-day monetary policy meeting Wednesday. The Fed's after-meeting statement was expected to give out further information about interest-rate hike this year.

Recent mixed U.S. economic data and turbulent global markets have been lowering investors' expectation for the Fed to raise interest rates this month.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.30 percent at 95.325 in late trading.

On the economic front, the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers decreased 0.1 percent in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, missing market consensus, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1287 dollars from 1.1278 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.5495 dollars from 1.5332 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar increased to 0.7190 dollar from 0.7120 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 120.62 Japanese yen, higher than 120.46 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar dived to 0.9695 Swiss franc from 0.9742 Swiss franc and dropped to 1.3176 Canadian dollars from 1.3246 Canadian dollars. Endit