Investing.com - U.S. existing home sales fell more than expected in January to hit the lowest level in nine months, dampening optimism over the health of the housing market, industry data showed on Monday.
In a report, the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales decreased 4.9% to a seasonally adjusted 4.82 million units last month from 5.07 million in December.
Analysts had expected existing home sales to fall 0.8% to 4.97 million units in January.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the housing market got off to a somewhat disappointing start to begin the year with January closings down throughout the country.
"January housing data can be volatile because of seasonal influences, but low housing supply and the ongoing rise in home prices above the pace of inflation appeared to slow sales despite interest rates remaining near historic lows,” he said.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1334 from around 1.1326 ahead of the release of the data, while GBP/USD was at 1.5429 from 1.5418 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 118.87 from 118.91 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 94.66, compared to 94.71 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets were lower after the open. The Dow 30 fell 0.35%, the S&P 500 dipped 0.25%, while the Nasdaq 100 inched down 0.2%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,205.60 a troy ounce, compared to $1,204.90 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $49.48 a barrel from $49.16 earlier.