NEW YORK, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar index went up slightly on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged.
The U.S. central bank on Wednesday decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 1.75 to 2 percent after concluding a two-day policy meeting.
The Fed noted that the U.S. labor market "has continued to strengthen" and the economic activity "has been rising at a strong rate" since policymakers met in June.
On the economic front, the U.S. manufacturing activity expanded at a slower pace in July, according to a survey released by the Institute for Supply Management on Wednesday. The manufacturing index registered 58.1 percent in July, down from the June reading of 60.2 percent, missing market consensus, said the survey.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.10 percent at 94.556 in late trading on Wednesday.
In late New York trading, the euro was down to 1.1664 dollars from 1.1697 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.3127 dollars from 1.3124 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar lost to 0.7399 dollar from 0.7435 dollar.
The U.S. dollar bought 111.57 Japanese yen, lower than 111.84 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar gained to 0.9919 Swiss franc from 0.9900 Swiss franc, and it went down to 1.2994 Canadian dollars from 1.3002 Canadian dollars. Enditem
