1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar falls despite upbeat data

The U.S. dollar decreased against most major peers on Wednesday despite positive jobs data from the country.

U.S. private sector employment rose by 214,000 jobs from January to February, on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the ADP National Employment Report Wednesday.

The ADP figure is watched closely as a pre-indicator for the non-farm payrolls report due Friday.

The U.S. economic data came out mixed recently. The National Association of Realtors said Monday that U.S. Pending Home Sales Index decreased 2.5 percent to 106.0 in January from an upwardly revised 108.7 in December. The latest reading was below market consensus of a 0.5-percent gain.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.16 percent at 98.191 in late trading Wednesday.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0866 dollars from 1.0865 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.4076 dollars from 1.3962 dollars. The Australian dollar went up to 0.7295 dollar from 0.7181 dollar.

The dollar bought 113.46 Japanese yen, lower than 114.06 yen of the previous session. The greenback declined to 0.9965 Swiss franc from 0.9980 Swiss franc, and inched up to 1.3435 Canadian dollars from 1.3394 Canadian dollars. Enditem