New York - US stocks fell to start the week on Monday, putting the brakes on a rally from last week that was spurred by a better-than expected US jobs report.

Metal companies, retailers, some banks and technology firms all slipped slightly on the day, halting the gains of more than 2-per- cent posted by all major stock indices in the last week.

The US unemployment rate dipped from 9.5 per cent to 9.4 per cent in July as only 247,000 jobs were lost on the month, the US Labour Department said Friday. It marked the smallest monthly rate of job losses since the US recession began in December 2007.

Investors this week will be looking for more signs of an economic uplift as the US Federal Reserve board begins meeting Tuesday. The central bank is near-certain to keep the benchmark interest rate at its historic low of 0-0.25 per cent when the meeting ends Wednesday.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 32.12 points, or 0.34 per cent, to close at 9,337.95. The broader Standard and Poor's 500 declined 3.38 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 1,007.1. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dipped back below the 2,000 mark, losing 8.01 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 1,992.24.

On currency markets, the US dollar edged up against the euro, closing at 70.71 euro cents from 70.50 euro cents on Friday. The dollar fell against the Japanese currency 97.17 yen from 97.57 yen on Friday.(dpa)