NEW YORK, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar retreated against major currencies except Japanese yen on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve decided to continue its asset-buying program and extend the Operation Twist.
The U.S. Federal Open Market Committee, the policy-making organ of the Fed, on Wednesday announced its decision to expand the asset-buying plan as expected after it concluded a two-day policy meeting the same day.
With the asset-buying plan, launched in September, also known as the third round of quantitative monetary easing program, the Fed will continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of 40 billion dollars per month.
The Committee will also purchase longer-term Treasury securities after its Operation Twist program, designed to extend the average maturity of its holdings of Treasury securities, is completed at the end of the year, initially at a pace of 45 billion dollars per month.
Moreover, the FOMC maintained the benchmark federal funds rate near zero percent and would keep the ultra low rate as long as the unemployment rate of the U.S. remains above 6.5 percent.
The FOMC said in a statement that "taken together, these actions should maintain downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, support mortgage markets, and help to make broader financial conditions more accommodative."
In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.3081 dollars from 1. 3004 of the previous session and the British pound climbed to 1. 6158 dollars from 1.6112. The dollar dropped to 0.9258 Swiss francs from 0.9326 and went down to 0.9839 Canadian dollars from 0.9865.
The dollar bought 83. 18 Japanese yen, higher than 82.5 in the previous session.
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