U.S. dollar tumbles as Fed meeting begins

The U.S. dollar dropped against other major currencies on Tuesday as the Federal Reserve kicked off its two-day policy meeting.

The Fed is scheduled to release its latest policy decision after the conclusion of its two-day meeting Wednesday afternoon. Analysts widely hold that the Fed won't hike rates at this meeting, but it will still be watched closely for more clues on the timing a next rate increases.

At its December meeting, the U.S. central bank raised the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points, the only time in 2016, and indicated a faster rate hike pace in 2017.

The U.S. dollar was also under pressure on U.S. President Donald Trump's comments. In a meeting with the chief executives of several top drug makers on Tuesday, Trump said drug companies had outsourced production because of currency devaluation by other countries, according to the Reuters.

The comments intensified expectations that the new U.S. administration was making moves to talk down the greenback.

On the economic front, the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index came in at 111.8, down from 113.3 in December and missing market expectations of 122.2.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, dipped 0.88 percent at 99.548 in late trading Tuesday.

In late New York trading, the euro jumped to 1.0801 dollars from 1.0693 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound rose to 1.2580 dollars from 1.2482 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar increased to 0.7584 dollar from 0.7552 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 112.76 Japanese yen, lower than 113.69 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar lost to 0.9888 Swiss francs from 0.9953 Swiss francs, and it moved down to 1.3025 Canadian dollars from 1.3116 Canadian dollars. Endit