U.S. dollar mixed ahead of Fed statement

The U.S. dollar traded mixed against other major currencies on Tuesday as investors were awaiting the closely-watched Federal Reserve statement due later this week.

The U.S. central bank started its two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday. It is widely expected that the Fed will announce to raise its interest rate for the first time this year in its after-meeting statement on Wednesday.

Analysts said that the greenback was steady on Tuesday as market focus has shifted to the Fed' s stance in further tightening next year with a rate-hike already priced in.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.03 percent at 101.060 in late trading.

On the economic front, U.S. import prices fell 0.3 percent in November, following 0.4 percent increase in October, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. U.S. export prices edged down 0.1 percent in November, after a 0.2-percent increase the previous month.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.0619 dollars from 1.0640 dollars, and the British pound declined to 1.2668 dollars from 1.2679 dollars. The Australian dollar increased to 0.7495 dollars from 0.7492 dollars.

The dollar bought 115.28 Japanese yen, higher than 115.14 yen in the previous session. The dollar inched down to 1.0130 Swiss francs from 1.0140 Swiss francs, and it fell to 1.3123 Canadian dollars from 1.3136 Canadian dollars. Endit