U.S. dollar ticks down amid Fed minutes

The U.S. dollar declined against most other major currencies on Wednesday as investors digested the minutes from Federal Reserve's June policy meeting amid economic data.

According to the minutes released in the afternoon, U.S. central bank policymakers said it was prudent to wait for more data and the Brexit vote result before raising rates.

Fed officials also cited a severe slowdown in hiring by U.S. employers as a reason for leaving interest rates steady last month, the minutes showed.

On the economic front, U.S. service sector in June grew at the fastest pace since November 2015. The Non-Manufacturing Index (NMI), which measures activity in the U.S. service sector, registered 56.5 in June, 3.6 percentage points higher than May's reading, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said in its monthly survey Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Wednesday that the goods and services deficit was 41.1 billion U.S. dollars in May, up 3.8 billion dollars from 37.4 billion dollars in April, revised.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.08 percent at 96.089 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1104 dollars from 1.1072 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound declined to 1.2922 dollars from 1.3024 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar increased to 0.7517 dollar from 0.7460 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 101.39 Japanese yen, lower than 101.54 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar lost to 0.9743 Swiss franc from 0.9769 Swiss franc, and it dipped to 1.2956 Canadian dollars from 1.2990 Canadian dollars. Enditem