1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises on upbeat data

The U.S. dollar rose against most major currencies on Tuesday as economic data from the country came out positive.

The National Federation of Independent Business said Tuesday that U.S. small business optimism perked up in December, with the Small Business Optimism Index rising 2.3 points to 100.4, the best reading since October 2006.

Meanwhile, U.S. job openings registered 4.97 million on the last business day of November, higher than October's reading of 4. 83 million, the Labor Department said Tuesday.

Investors were awaiting other closely-watched economic data including U.S. retail sales, jobless claims and consumer price index scheduled out later this week.

The euro was under pressure as officials from the European Central Bank (ECB) said late Monday that policy makers must tackle the threat of deflation as soon as next week, arousing market speculation that the ECB may decide to buy government bonds in their next meeting on Jan. 22.

The Japanese yen rose against the U.S. dollar for a third session as recent drop in oil prices and equity markets spurred demand for safe-haven assets.

In late New York trading, the euro moved down to 1.1764 dollars from 1.1840 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound fell to 1.5146 dollars from 1.5180 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.8154 dollars from 0.8164 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 117.73 Japanese yen, lower than 118.58 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar edged up to 1.0209 Swiss francs from 1.0144 Swiss francs, and it moved up to 1.1966 Canadian dollars from 1.1956 Canadian dollars. Endite