Investing.com - U.S. new home sales rose more than expected in June, bolstering optimism over the health of the housing market, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said new home sales rose by 3.5% to a seasonally adjusted 592,000 units last month.
New home sales in May were revised up to 572,000 units, from the prior reading of a 6.0% slump to 551,000 units.
Analysts had expected a 1.6% advance from the initial May number to a total of 560,000 units.
After the report that was released simultaneously with the Conference Board’s July consumer confidence, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0991 from around 1.1002 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.3150 from 1.3166 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 104.66 from 104.60 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 97.16, compared to 97.06 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stocks were trading slightly higher after the open as the Dow 30 gained 11 points or 0.06%, the S&P 500 traded up 4 points or 0.20% , and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 26 points or 0.56%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,328.00 a troy ounce, compared to $1,327.50 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $42.95 a barrel from $42.91 earlier.