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

The U.S. dollar traded mixed against other major currencies on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve held its interest rates unchanged in a statement released after its two-day policy meeting.

The Fed is "closely monitoring global economic and financial developments and is assessing their implications for the labor market and inflation, and for the balance of risks to the outlook," according to the statement by the U.S. central bank on Wednesday.

Analysts said the dovish statement diminished the chances for the Fed to raise interest rates in its next meeting in March.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.43 percent at 98.935 in late trading.

On the economic front, U.S. sales of new single-family houses in December 2015 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 544,000, beating market consensus, said the Commerce Department Wednesday.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0900 dollars from 1.0849 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound fell to 1.4255 dollars from 1.4359 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar inched up to 0.7035 dollar from 0.7014 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 118.70 Japanese yen, higher than 118.48 yen of the previous session. The greenback declined to 1.0141 Swiss francs from 1.0180 Swiss francs, and increased to 1.4119 Canadian dollars from 1.4081 Canadian dollars. Endit