NEW YORK, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar declined against most major currencies on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged.

The Fed left its benchmark interest rates unchanged as widely expected on Wednesday after concluding its two-day monetary policy meeting. But the central bank signaled that it would begin shrinking its balance sheet "relatively soon."

Market analysts had said the Fed might start the balance sheet reduction as early as in September.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.33 percent at 93.739 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1700 U.S. dollars from 1.1649 U.S. dollars, and the British pound climbed to 1.3094 U.S. dollars from 1.3034 U.S. dollars. The Australian dollar added to 0.7972 U.S. dollar from 0.7936 U.S. dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 111.44 Japanese yen, lower than 111.82 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar increased to 0.9530 Swiss franc from 0.9513 Swiss franc, and it edged down to 1.2483 Canadian dollars from 1.2518 Canadian dollars. Enditem

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