New York, April 16 : The US dollar appreciated in late trading on Wednesday as market participants' risk appetite eased following a slew of poor data. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, increased 0.58 per cent at 99.4635 in late trading. In late New York trading, the euro fell to $1.0921 from $1.0979 in the previous session, and the British pound fell to $1.2550 from $1.2627 in the previous session. The Australian dollar decreased to $0.6329 from $0.6434, Xinhua reported. The US dollar bought 107.45 Japanese yen, higher than 107.16 Japanese yen of the previous session. The US dollar was up to 0.9636 Swiss franc from 0.9602 Swiss franc, and it increased to 1.4083 Canadian dollars from 1.3909 Canadian dollars. On the data front, US retail and food services sales were $483.1 billion in March, a decline of 8.7 per cent from the previous month, according to a preliminary report from the Commerce Department released on Wednesday. The Empire State manufacturing index, a key metric to gauge business activity growth in New York State, plummeted to -78.2 in April, its lowest level on record, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported. /IANS