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NEW YORK: The ailing US dollar got little traction on Wednesday as the US Federal Reserve offered no clue on lifting interest rates even with an economic recovery that appears to be gaining momentum.
The stand-pat policy of the Fed kept the overall outlook generally upbeat on financial markets, but encouraged investors to venture into currencies - such as the euro - seen as riskier than the US unit.
The European unit rose to 1.4865 dollars at 2200 GMT following the Fed announcement against 1.4728 late Tuesday in New York.
The dollar was meanwhile trading up at 90.75 yen, up from 90.31 on Tuesday.
Many traders remained attracted to gold, which set another record at 1,095.40 dollars per ounce in London.
The moves away from the safe-haven dollar and yen accelerated after the Fed decided to keep its base rate in a range of zero to 0.25 percent, and repeated its expectation of "exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period."
"The FOMC statement was delivered largely as expected, with the Fed emphasising subdued growth and inflation for the foreseeable future and thus no need for any change in interest rates," said Michael Woolfolk at Bank of New York Mellon.
"The Fed's commitment to low rates prompted a brief bout of dollar selling as the event risk of the decision passed and players could return to short dollar-speculative positions."
Others pointed out the mixed picture painted by the Fed, which will allow them to maintain ultra-low rates but only because of exceptionally weak conditions.
"Clearly, the dismal US labour environment continues to constrain US monetary authorities from taking any more aggressive action," said Boris Schlossberg, director of currency research at Global Forex Trading.
He said the market showed little reaction to "lacklustre" economic news.
Payrolls firm ADP said its survey showed that the US private sector shed 203,000 jobs in October, the seventh month in a row that employment declines were smaller than in the previous month.
A separate survey by the Institute of Supply Management showed the US services sector, which makes up the bulk of the nation's economy, expanded in October for the second month running but at a slower pace.
The ISM said its non-manufacturing index dipped to 50.6 percent last month, after 50.9 percent in September. Any number over 50 indicates growth.
In late New York trade, the dollar stood at 1.0157 Swiss francs from 1.0255 on Tuesday.
The pound was at 1.6555 dollars after 1.6439. - AFP/de
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