The U.S. dollar rose against most major currencies on Thursday as investors continued to digest the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates by a quarter point.
The U.S. central bank on Wednesday raised the benchmark interest rates for the fourth time since December 2015, and unveiled plans to start trimming its balance sheet.
"In view of realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation, the (Federal Open Market) Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1 to 1.25 percent," said the Fed in a statement after concluding its two-day monetary policy meeting.
Meanwhile, in view of stable economic conditions, the Fed plans to reduce its 4.5-trillion-U.S.-dollar balance sheet later this year and unveiled a detailed plan to trim its bond holdings.
"The Fed sounded hawkish, willing to look past the weakness in inflation and reiterating the need to normalize policy," said a BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research report after the release.
On the economic front, in the week ending June 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 237,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 245,000, said the U.S. Labor Department Thursday.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.54 percent at 97.467 in late trading.
In late New York trading, the euro decreased to 1.1154 dollars from 1.1217 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was up to 1.2762 dollars from 1.2648 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar edged down to 0.7583 dollar from 0.7585 dollar. The dollar bought 110.84 Japanese yen, higher than 109.64 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.9748 Swiss franc from 0.9719 Swiss franc, and it was up to 1.3275 Canadian dollars from 1.3258 Canadian dollars.
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