1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar mixed on downbeat data

The U.S. dollar traded mixed against other major currencies on Tuesday as the economic data from the country came out negative.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday that the advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for February decreased 0.1 percent from the previous month to 447.3 billion U.S. dollars, below market expectations.

The U.S. Labor Department posted Tuesday that the U.S. Producer Price Index for final demand fell 0.2 percent in February.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve kicked off its two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday. Investors were awaiting the closely-watched Fed announcement due to be released on Wednesday.

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

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1105 dollars from 1.1083 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.4143 dollars from 1.4299 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7447 dollars from 0.7496 dollars.

The dollar bought 113.13 Japanese yen, lower than 113.82 yen of the previous session. The dollar decreased to 0.9873 Swiss francs from 0.9880 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.3362 Canadian dollars from 1.3270 Canadian dollars. Endit