Dollar Rises on Fed's New Stimulus Package

NEW YORK, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar rose against major currencies in late New York trading on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve announced new stimulus plan as the market had expected.

The Federal Reserve announced a 400 billion dollar program after a two-day meeting, in a effort to stimulate the economy. The so called "Operation Twist" by the Fed was well anticipated by the markets and disappointed investors as stock markets dropped further after the announcement.

The dollar rebounded against major currencies after the Fed's move. The dollar index rose 0.4 percent to 77.34.

Greek government said Wednesday it will suspend more civil servants than originally planned and impose new pension cuts as part of its new austerity plan. The efforts came amid speculations that Greece will default and fail to meet its austerity target.

The euro was still under pressure and lost 0.2 percent against the dollar.

Minutes of this month's monetary policy meeting of the Bank of England showed that the central bank decided to keep its key interest rate unchanged at 0.5 percent. The British pound tumbled more than 1 percent against the dollar.

In late Wednesday trading, the dollar bought 76.62 yen, comparing with 76.38 from late Tuesday, and the euro fell to 1. 3667 dollars from 1.3688.

The British pound also fell to 1.5578 dollars from 1.5732. The dollar rose from 0.8889 Swiss francs to 0.8954, and also rose to 1. 0035 Canadian dollars from 0.9912.