1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar falls after sharp gain

The U.S. dollar declined against other major currencies Friday after a sharp increase in the previous session on the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rate for the first time in nine years.

U.S. central bank on Wednesday announced its decision to raise benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points, marking the end of an era of extraordinary easing monetary policy.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers,was up 1.39 percent at 99.233 in late trading Thursday due to Fed's move.

The greenback was under pressure as the Japanese central bank unveiled weaker-than-expected monetary easing policy Friday. The dollar index dropped 0.54 percent at 98.729 in late trading.

On the economic front, the seasonally adjusted Markit's flash U.S. services PMI Business Activity Index registered 53.7 in December, missing market consensus and logging the lowest reading for 12 months.

In late New York trading, the euro increased to 1.0862 U.S. dollars from 1.0811 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.4909 U.S. dollars from 1.4884 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar rose to 0.7186 U.S. dollar from 0.7117 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 121.28 Japanese yen, lower than 122.82 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar fell to 0.9928 Swiss franc from 0.9971 Swiss franc and went down to 1.3928 Canadian dollars from 1.3960 Canadian dollars. Endit