NEW YORK, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar clung to its gainson Monday following a strong U.S. July payrolls report.

U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment increased

by 209,000 inJuly, well above market expectations, and the unemployment rate waslittle changed at 4.3 percent, according to the U.S. LaborDepartment Friday.

Investors have kept a close eye on nonfarm payroll report,looking for clues on when the Federal Reserve might start thebalance sheet reduction and increase interest rate.

"This report should leave the Fed comfortable with B/S (balancesheet) normalization in Sept and we think leaves a hike in Dec onthe table," Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in its U.S. economicwatch.

Meanwhile, investors were also waiting for inflation data to bereleased later this week that may provide a boost to thecurrency.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six majorpeers, was down 0.11 percent at 93.439 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1790 U.S. dollarsfrom 1.1763 U.S. dollars, and the British pound dropped to 1.3028U.S. dollars from 1.3036 U.S. dollars. The Australian dollardecreased to 0.7911 U.S. dollar from 0.7928 U.S. dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 110.74 Japanese yen, higher than 110.68yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.9736 Swissfranc from 0.9734 Swiss franc, and it edged up to 1.2681 Canadiandollars from 1.2644 Canadian dollars. Enditem