1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises on Fed statement

The U.S. dollar increased against most major currencies on Wednesday as the newly-released Federal Reserve statement suggested the possibility of an interest-rate hike by year-end.

After a two-day monetary policy meeting that started Tuesday, Fed officials kept the benchmark rate unchanged, yet left the door open for a rate-hike at the next meeting in December without providing firm commitment to act by the end of the year.

"In determining whether it will be appropriate to raise the target range at its next meeting, the Committee will assess progress -- both realized and expected -- toward its objectives of maximum employment and 2 percent inflation," the Fed said in a statement.

Analysts said that the Fed's reference to a particular meeting is very rare and the hawkish statement surely spurred market expectation for a rate-liftoff this year.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.82 percent at 97.699 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.0901 dollars from 1.1040 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.5251 dollars from 1.5307 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar declined to 0.7086 dollar from 0.7195 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 121.21 Japanese yen, higher than 120.32 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar hiked to 0.9952 Swiss franc from 0.9862 Swiss franc, and it went down to 1.3214 Canadian dollars from 1.3265 Canadian dollars. Endite