U.S. dollar declines amid Fed statement

NEW YORK, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar lost against most major currencies on Thursday as investors were sifting through the latest Federal Reserve statement and a batch of economic data from the country.

After concluding its two-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, the U.S. central bank left federal funds rate unchanged in a statement, reiterating that it continues to closely monitor inflation indicators and global economic developments.

"Near-term risks to the economic outlook have diminished," the Fed said, adding that there was some increase in labor utilization in recent months and household spending have grown "strongly."

Analysts said the Fed's overall description of the economy was upbeat, yet the statement failed to offer clear timeline of further rate-hikes, which weighed on the greenback on Thursday.

On the economic front, in the week ending July 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 266,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. international trade deficit was 63.3 billion U.S. dollars in June, up 2.2 billion dollars from 61.1 billion dollars in May, the Commerce Department announced Thursday.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.31 percent at 96.755 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1073 dollars from 1.1009 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound dipped to 1.3154 dollars from 1.3172 dollars. The Australian dollar went up to 0.7499 dollars from 0.7464 dollars.

The dollar bought 105.44 Japanese yen, lower than 105.64 yen of the previous session. The dollar slipped to 0.9813 Swiss francs from 0.9915 Swiss francs, and it inched down to 1.3175 Canadian dollars from 1.3216 Canadian dollars.