1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar declines amid oil rally

The U.S. dollar decreased against most major peers on Monday as the rebound of oil prices triggered market bids for riskier currencies including euro.

Oil prices continued to rally on Monday after last week's solid gains, with Brent crude hitting a 2016 high of above 40 U.S. dollars a barrel in late trading.

The riskier euro and commodity-sensitive currencies went up against the greenback. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.24 percent at 97.102 in late trading.

With no major data came out of the country, investors were still digesting the closely-watched U.S. nonfarm payroll report released on Friday.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 242,000 in February, topping market expectations, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent, the U.S. Labor Department announced Friday.

In February, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls declined 3 cents to 25.35 U.S. dollars, following an increase of 12 cents in January. Average hourly earnings have risen by 2.2 percent over the year.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1012 dollars from 1.0995 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.4261 dollars from 1.4213 dollars. The Australian dollar went up to 0.7470 dollars from 0.7426 dollars.

The dollar bought 113.28 Japanese yen, lower than 114.03 yen of the previous session. The dollar increased to 0.9952 Swiss francs from 0.9950 Swiss francs, and it inched down to 1.3289 Canadian dollars from 1.3328 Canadian dollars. Endit