1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar climbs on higher yields

The U.S. dollar rose against most major currencies Tuesday on higher Treasury yields, while the euro dropped as investors still weighed the prospect of Greece striking a debt deal with its international creditors.

The U.S. dollar advanced as the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note, whose rise has been a key argument for the dollar's strength since mid-2014, ticked up 2 percent to the highest level in a month on heightened expectations that the Federal Reserve would raise rates this year after strong U.S. jobs data Friday.

The economic data came out mixed on Tuesday. U.S. job openings registered 5.03 million in December, above 5 million for the first time since January 2001, beating market expectations, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.

The National Federation of Independent Business said Tuesday that U.S. Small Business Optimism Index fell to 97.9 in January from December's nine-year high of 100.4.

Meanwhile, investors are also sifting through signs of a thaw in Greek debt impasse. According to sources of Finance Ministry, Greece's new government was confident that a bridge agreement could be reached in next week's euro group meeting and a final deal on the Greek debt load could follow in September.

In late New York trading, the euro slipped to 1.1315 dollars from 1.1336 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound rose to 1.5251 dollars from 1.5230 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7767 dollars from 0.7814 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 119.44 Japanese yen, higher than 118.41 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar was up to 0.9266 Swiss francs from 0.9211 Swiss francs, and rose to 1.2598 Canadian dollars from 1.2452 Canadian dollars. Endite