1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises after sharp loss

The U.S. dollar increased against other major currencies on Friday after declining for two consecutive sessions on the Federal Reserve statement.

In a statement released after the Fed's two-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, Fed officials decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0.25 to 0.5 percent, noting that "global economic and financial developments continue to pose risks" to the U.S. economy.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.83 percent and 1.17 percent in late trading on Wednesday and Thursday respectively. The greenback recovered on Friday with the dollar index gaining 0.32 percent at 95.065 in late trading.

On the economic front, the preliminary reading of consumer sentiment index published by Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan came in at 90.0 for March, worse than market estimates of 92.2.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1270 dollars from 1.1318 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.4480 dollars from 1.4486 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7602 dollars from 0.7651 dollars.

The dollar bought 111.57 Japanese yen, higher than 111.43 yen of the previous session. The dollar increased to 0.9692 Swiss francs from 0.9672 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.3020 Canadian dollars from 1.2996 Canadian dollars. Endit