U.S. dollar declines on Fed announcement

The U.S. dollar fell against most major currencies on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.59 percent at 94.366 in late trading.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Fed officials gave mixed assessment about the U.S. economy, saying that the labor market has slowed its improvement pace, while growth in economic activity appeared to have picked up since April.

The central bank raised its target range for the federal funds rate to 0.25 percent to 0.50 percent in December last year, the first rate-hike in nearly a decade.

But the turmoil in financial market and a slowdown in global economy since the start of this year have raised concerns about the strength of U.S. economy, forcing Fed policymakers to hold off on any further rate hikes since then.

On the economic front, the Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand increased 0.4 percent in May, seasonally adjusted, beating market consensus, the U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday.

Meanwhile, U.S. industrial production decreased 0.4 percent in May after increasing 0.6 percent in April, the Fed said Wednesday.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1267 dollars from 1.1212 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.4170 dollars from 1.4116 dollars. The Australian dollar went up to 0.7419 dollars from 0.7362 dollars.

The dollar bought 105.76 Japanese yen, lower than 106.06 yen of the previous session. The dollar dropped to 0.9614 Swiss francs from 0.9630 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.2907 Canadian dollars from 1.2860 Canadian dollars. Endit