US dollar gains against euro on ECB policies

The U.S. dollar climbed against euro to a three-month high as the European Central Bank signaled that it may maintain easy money policies for more than one year. ECB executive board member Joerg Asmussen said the interest rates will stay low for an extended period. Analysts believed that Federal Reserve may soon start to scale back stimulus program, as the quantitative easing policy is largely dependent on jobs market improvement. Total nonfarm payroll employment of U.S. increased by 195,000 in June, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.6 percent. Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke will speak on economic policy Wednesday. The dollar's biggest gains were against the British pound after weaker-than-expected UK data drove sterling down. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against other major currencies, was up 0.57 percent. In late New York trading, the euro dropped to 1.2787 dollars from 1.2875 dollars of the previous session and the British pound decreased to 1.4869 dollars from 1.4949 dollars. The Australian dollar gained to 0.9191 dollars from 0.9142 dollars. The dollar bought 100.95 Japanese yen, lower than 100.98 yen of the previous session. It edged up to 0.9724 Swiss francs from 0. 9634 Swiss francs and moved down to 1.0528 Canadian dollars from 1. 0557 Canadian dollars.