US dollar comes under pressure after Fed holds rate forecast steady

The US dollar skidded after the Federal Reserve raised rates, but left unchanged its expectations for further increases this year.

The dollar index, which gauges the buck against a basket of half a dozen peers, was recently off by 0.7 per cent.

The euro was recently up by 0.7 per cent on the greenback, while the British pound jumped 0.9 per cent. The dollar was off by 0.7 per cent against the Japanese yen.

The central bank in December projected three rate increases this year, but some investment houses had said that central bankers could issue a more hawkish forecast given the string of solid data released recently.

Higher rates are seen to be bullish for the dollar since investors tend to chase higher yields.