U.S. dollar mixed as Fed meeting starts

The U.S. dollar traded mixed

against other major currencies on Tuesday as the Federal Reserve

kicked off its two-day monetary policy meeting.

The U.S. central bank was widely expected to keep interest rates

unchanged after this meeting.

After concluding its meeting last month, the Fed raised the

interest rates for the fourth time since December 2015, and

unveiled plan to start trimming its balance sheet. Market analysts

said the Fed might start the balance sheet reduction as early as in

September.

On the economic front, the Conference Board Consumer Confidence

Index, which had declined in June, improved in July. The Index now

stands at 121.1, up from 117.3 in June. The latest reading was way

above market expectations of 117.0.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major

peers, was up 0.09 percent at 94.058 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1649 U.S. dollars

from 1.1641 U.S. dollars, and the British pound stayed flat at

1.3034 U.S. dollars. The Australian dollar added to 0.7936 U.S.

dollar from 0.7922 U.S. dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 111.82 Japanese yen, higher than 111.12

yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar increased to 0.9513

Swiss franc from 0.9459 Swiss franc, and it edged up to 1.2518

Canadian dollars from 1.2510 Canadian dollars. Enditem