U.S. dollar climbs amid euro weakness, Fed minutes

NEW YORK, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar rose to six-month high against the euro on Wednesday after data showed an economic slowdown in Euro zone.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, rose 0.40 percent at 93.983 in late trading.

The euro lost 0.70 percent against the greenback in late trading on Wednesday to its lowest level since mid-November, as a business survey showed that the Euro zone economic growth slowed much more sharply than expected this month.

Meanwhile, investors were digesting the newly-released Federal Reserve minutes.

The minutes from Fed's May meeting on Wednesday showed that central bank officials considered "a temporary period of inflation modestly above 2 percent would be consistent with the Committee's symmetric inflation objective."

The Fed also pointed to an interest rate hike at the June meeting, saying "It would likely soon be appropriate for the Committee to take another step in removing policy accommodation."

In late New York trading, the euro was down to 1.1700 dollars from 1.1778 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound fell to 1.3351 dollars from 1.3429 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar was down to 0.7563 dollar from 0.7577 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 110.08 Japanese yen, lower than 111.00 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar increased to 0.9962 Swiss franc from 0.9929 Swiss franc, and it rose to 1.2836 Canadian dollars from 1.2814 Canadian dollars. Enditem