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

The U.S. dollar increased against other major currencies on Monday as investors were awaiting the closely-watched Federal Reserve meeting scheduled later this week.

Fed officials will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the country's economic performance and monetary policy. In Fed's latest meeting in January, many officials believed the global economic and financial turbulence had increased the downside risks for the outlook of the U.S. economy.

The Fed kept its target range for the federal funds rate unchanged at 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent in its January meeting, after raising the interest rates in December for the first time in nearly a decade.

Most economists believe the increased downside risks for the U.S. economy have raised the bar for hiking interest rates at its policy meeting in March.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1083 dollars from 1.1155 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.4299 dollars from 1.4378 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7496 dollars from 0.7573 dollars.

The dollar bought 113.82 Japanese yen, higher than 113.73 yen of the previous session. The dollar increased to 0.9880 Swiss francs from 0.9819 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.3270 Canadian dollars from 1.3218 Canadian dollars. Endit