New York, May 8 (IANS): The US dollar gained against its major rivals in late trading on Tuesday as traders digested a slew of economic data.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, increased 0.11 per cent at 97.6282 in late trading, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The number of US job openings rose to 7.5 million in March, according to a report by the Department of Labor on Tuesday, indicating that companies are still ready to hire amid the signs that the economy is not growing as fast as it was a year earlier.

Meanwhile, hires and separations were little changed at 5.7 million and 5.4 million, respectively, over the month. Within separations, the quits rate was unchanged at 2.3 per cent and the layoffs and discharges rate was little changed at 1.1 per cent, said the report.

In late New York trading, the Euro decreased to 1.1183 dollars from 1.1203 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was down to 1.3063 dollars from 1.3098 US dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar increased to 0.7004 dollar from 0.6999 dollar.

The US dollar bought 110.26 Japanese yen, lower than 110.92 Japanese yen of the previous session. The US dollar was up to 1.0195 Swiss francs from 1.0175 Swiss francs, and it increased to 1.3480 Canadian dollars from 1.3437 Canadian dollars.