1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar declines on weak data

The U.S. dollar dropped against other major currencies on Tuesday as economic data from the country came out overall negative.

U.S. job openings decreased to 4.994 million from February's revised level of 5.144 million, said the Labor Department Tuesday. The latest figure was below market consensus of 5.158 million.

Meanwhile, the National Federation of Independent Business reported that its small-business optimism index rose 1.7 points to 96.9 in April, a decent month-over-month reading but still below the historical average.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.48 percent at 94.554 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1220 dollars from 1.1158 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.5676 dollars from 1.5590 dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar went up to 0.7991 dollars from 0. 7901 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 119.89 Japanese yen, lower than 120.10 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar slipped to 0.9286 Swiss francs from 0.9335 Swiss francs, and it slumped to 1.1998 Canadian dollars from 1.2096 Canadian dollars. Endite