U.S. dollar falls amid Fed decision, data

The U.S. dollar declined against most major currencies on Thursday as investors were digesting the latest Federal Reserve decision as well as economic data from the country.

In the previous session, the Fed decided to leave its benchmark interest rates unchanged as the central bank waited on more data to assess the U.S. economic outlook.

On the economic front, in the week ending April 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 238,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week' s unrevised level of 257,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

Investors were awaiting the closely-watched nonfarm payroll report due out Friday to get a clearer picture of the U.S. labor market.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.39 percent at 98.825 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0978 dollars from 1.0897 dollars, and the British pound climbed to 1.2916 dollars from 1.2883 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.7399 U.S. dollar from 0.7440 U.S. dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 112.42 Japanese yen, lower than 112.64 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar decreased to 0.9873 Swiss franc from 0.9938 Swiss franc, and it edged up to 1.3770 Canadian dollars from 1.3703 Canadian dollars. Endit