1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar falls on downbeat data

The U.S. dollar decreased against most major currencies on Monday as economic data from the country came out negative.

U.S. consumer spending, accounting for more than two-thirds of U.S. economy activity, fell 0.3 percent in December, the biggest decline since 2009, the Commerce Department reported on Monday.

Another report from the department showed construction spending rebounded 0.4 percent in December from November's 0.2-percent decline. The December reading missed market expectations of a 0.6- percent gain.

U.S. Institute for Supply Management said on Monday that the U. S. manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) registered 53.5 in January, which was the worst performance in a year, lower than market consensus of 54.5.

Meanwhile, the final seasonally adjusted Markit U.S. manufacturing PMI came in at 53.9 in January, well above the neutral 50.0 threshold, but also slightly shy of market estimates, reported financial data firm Markit on Monday.

The greenback declined against most its peers after the disappointing data. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.40 percent at 94.427 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1346 dollars from 1.1293 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.5037 dollars from 1.5061 dollars. The Australian dollar rose to 0.7805 dollars from 0.7781 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 117.23 Japanese yen, lower than 117.53 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar went up to 0.9283 Swiss francs from 0.9174 Swiss francs, and it slipped to 1.2586 Canadian dollars from 1.2681 Canadian dollars. Endite