NEW YORK, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar appreciated against its major rivals in late trading on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates for the first time since the 2008 global financial crisis.

The Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's rate-setting body, trimmed the target for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 2 percent to 2.25 percent after concluding its two-day policy meeting Wednesday, in line with market expectation.

This action supports the committee's view that sustained expansion of economic activity, strong labor market conditions, and inflation near the committee's symmetric 2 percent objective are the most likely outcomes, but "uncertainties about this outlook remain," it said in a statement.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, rose 0.48 percent at 98.5243 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1085 dollars from 1.1156 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound rose to 1.2162 dollars from 1.2161 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.6839 dollar from 0.6874 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 108.77 Japanese yen, higher than 108.60 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar increased to 0.9934 Swiss franc from 0.9902 Swiss franc, and it was up to 1.3197 Canadian dollars from 1.3152 Canadian dollars. Enditem