New York, Sep 16 (IANS): The US dollar climbed against most major currencies on Tuesday as investors were awaiting the closely-watched Federal Reserve policy meeting which starts Wednesday.

Although recent mixed US data and turbulent global markets have been lowering investors' expectation for the Fed to raise interest rates this month, there is still some optimism in the market as the meeting looms, Xinhua news agency reported.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.38 percent at 95.606 in late trading.

On the economic front, The Commerce Department announced Tuesday that advance estimates of the US retail and food services sales for August increased 0.2 percent from the previous month to $447.7 billion, slightly below market consensus of a 0. 3-percent gain.

Meanwhile, the Fed said the US industrial production decreased 0.4 percent in August, exceeding market expectations of a 0.2-percent decline.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1278 dollars from $1.1315 in the previous session, and the British pound dropped to $1.5332 from $1.5432 in the previous session.

The Australian dollar decreased to $0.7120 from $0.7139.

The US dollar bought 120.46 Japanese yen, higher than 120.07 yen of the previous session. The US dollar hiked to 0.9742 Swiss franc from 0.9683 Swiss franc, and it dived to 1.3246 Canadian dollars from 1.3257 Canadian dollars.