LONDON -- Major currencies were trapped in tight ranges on Monday as dealers held to the sidelines with New York markets closed for a holiday, amid a dearth of fresh leads from economic data.

The single European currency nudged up to 0.9851 dollars against 0.9821 on Friday.

Meanwhile the dollar eased back to 117.96 yen from 118.40 on Friday.

The euro firmed slightly against the dollar in extremely quiet trade although many market participants were loath to take positions ahead other key U.S. data on Tuesday, AFP quoted dealers as saying.

"It's Labor Day in the U.S. so that's a strong reason why there's so little activity," Westlb's Michael Klawitter said.

"There'll be the ism from the U.S., followed later in the week by U.S. labor market figures and German unemployment, so investors would have to be extremely stupid to take positions in the meantime," he said, referring to a key survey by the Institute for Supply Management.

ABN Amro economist Rob Hayward also noted that trading should start heating up in the coming days.

"The passing of the U.S. Labor Day marks the unofficial end of the holiday period and a resumption of more liquid and 'normal' trading conditions will likely be seen," Hayward said.

"The markets will be looking for confirmation or rejection of the generally firmer dollar tone seen since equities began to rally from July 24 onwards," he added.

Hayward said this week's U.S. data releases, including data on the U.S. labor market slated for Friday, could have a major part to play in determining the dollar's direction over the next few weeks.

Dealers said the focus of what little trading there was on Monday remained concerns over economic uncertainty, which was keeping sentiment towards the dollar negative.

Bear Stearns economist David Brown said: "At the moment, it is still not clear whether we have already embarked on a return to a stronger trajectory just yet or whether there is more bad news to come on the growth front".

The euro was changing hands at 0.9851 dollars against 0.9821 late on Friday in New York, 116.21 yen (116.29), 0.6358 pounds (0.6333) and 1.4713 Swiss francs (1.4706).

The dollar was being quoted at 117.96 yen (118.40) and 1.4941 Swiss francs (1.4972).