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NEW YORK, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar decreased against most major currencies on Thursday after the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged.
"The Committee judges that the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened but decided, for the time being, to wait for further evidence of continued progress toward its objectives," said Fed in a statement released Wednesday after its two-day policy meeting.
The U.S. central bank said it made the decision due to recent weak economic data and tepid inflation.
It also said that near-term risks to the U.S. economic outlook "appear roughly balanced," a sign that the central bank could raise rates by the end of this year.
On the economic front, in the week ending on Sept. 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 252,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 260,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.25 percent at 95.420 in late trading.
In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1206 dollars from 1.1173 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound rose to 1.3072 dollars from 1.2998 dollars. The Australian dollar climbed to 0.7629 dollars from 0.7600 dollars.
The dollar bought 100.90 Japanese yen, higher than 100.59 yen in the previous session. The dollar dipped to 0.9692 Swiss francs from 0.9759 Swiss francs, and it inched down to 1.3067 Canadian dollars from 1.3159 Canadian dollars. Enditem
