Dollar rises against major currencies

The U.S. dollar advanced against most of major currencies on Tuesday before Federal Reserve announcement and U.S. growth data. The Fed started a two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and will release an announcement following the meeting on Wednesday. Traders had positioned themselves before the meeting as they speculated that the Fed would not change its monetary stimulus measures. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on July 17 that the central bank' s monetary easing measures "are by no means on a preset course," and could be adjusted according to changes of economic conditions. U.S. economic data released on Tuesday were mixed. U.S. home prices continued to increase in May, according to a report released Tuesday by S&P Dow Jones Indices. The 10- and 20-City Composites annual returns rose slightly from April to May as they posted the best year-over-year gains since March 2006. Meanwhile, U.S. consumer confidence, which had improved in June, pulled back slightly in July. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index stood at 80.3 for July, down from 82.1 in June, which was a more than five-year high. The U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday will release the country's gross domestic product (GDP) figure for the second quarter of this year. Analysts expected the U.S. economy to grow 1. 1 percent in the second quarter, while the reading was 1.8 percent in the first quarter. Moreover, the U.S. Labor Department will release non-farm payrolls report for July on Friday, which has also drawn great market attention. In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.3264 dollars from 1.3267 dollars of the previous session and the British pound decreased to 1.5244 dollars from 1.5357 dollars. The Australian dollar fell to 0.9062 dollars from 0.9210 dollars. The dollar bought 97.97 Japanese yen, higher than 97.88 yen of the previous session. It edged down to 0.9292 Swiss francs from 0. 9303 Swiss francs and moved up to 1.0309 Canadian dollars from 1. 0256 Canadian dollars.