NEW YORK, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- The dollar rose against major currencies on Thursday as the U.S. Federal Reserve is more confident about the economic outlook.

    The central bank decided on Wednesday to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 0.25 percent.

    The Fed said in a statement that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an "extended period." It didn't give signals about lifting interest rates any time soon.

    But the Fed did note improvements in the economy, and announced plans about exiting from some extraordinary stimulus measures.

    U.S. economic activity has continued to pick up and that the deterioration in the labor market is abating, the statement said. Although economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time, the Fed anticipates that policy actions, stimulus, and market forces will contribute to a strengthening of economic growth and a gradual return to higher levels of employment.

    The Fed said that most of its special liquidity facilities will expire on Feb. 1, 2010, consistent with previous announcement. It will also be working with its central bank counter parties to close its temporary liquidity swap arrangements by Feb. 1.

    The central bank expects that amounts provided to depository institutions under the Term Auction Facility (TAF) will continue to be scaled back in early 2010.

    The dollar was also boosted by weak UK retail data and a downgrade to Greece's credit rating by Standard & Poor's.

    The euro bought 1.4349 dollars in late New York trading compared with 1.4516 dollars it bought late Wednesday. The pound fell to 1.6156 dollars from 1.6310 dollars.

    The dollar rose to 1.0702 Canadian dollars from 1.0630 Canadian dollars, and rose to 1.0466 Swiss francs from 1.0397 Swiss francs. It rose to 89.96 Japanese yen from 89.90 Japanese yen.

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis