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

The U.S. dollar increased against most major currencies on Tuesday as investors were awaiting the closely-watched Federal Reserve statement due out Wednesday.

The Fed started its two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday. It is widely expected that the central bank would announce the first interest-rate hike in nine years in its after-meeting statement.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers,was up 0.63 percent at 98.216 in late trading.

On the U.S. economic front, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers was unchanged in November on a seasonally adjusted basis, on par with market estimates, said the Labor Department Tuesday. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 0.5 percent before seasonal adjustment.

The index for all items less food and energy, often referred to as the core CPI, rose 0.2 percent in November, the same increase as in September and October.

In late New York trading, the euro decreased to 1.0918 dollars from 1.1000 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.5043 dollars from 1.5141 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar declined to 0.7195 dollar from 0.7245 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 121.76 Japanese yen, higher than 120.83 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar hiked to 0.9903 Swiss franc from 0.9851 Swiss franc, and it went down to 1.3729 Canadian dollars from 1.3736 Canadian dollars. Endit