Investing.com - U.S. new home sales soared in April, blowing away consensus expectations and 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 16.6% to a seasonally adjusted 619,000 units last month.
That was biggest percentage rise since January 1992 and the highest level since January 2008.
New home sales in March were revised to show a 1.3% decline to 531,000 units, from the prior reading of a 1.5% slump.
Analysts had expected a 2.0% rise from the initial March number to a total of 523,000 units.
After the report that was released simultaneously with the Richmond manufacturing index, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1151 from around 1.1157 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4598 from 1.4596 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 109.89, compared to the prior 109.83.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 95.58, compared to 95.53 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stocks were trading higher after the open as the Dow 30 gained 185 points or 1.06%, the S&P 500 traded up 20 points or 1.01% , and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite rose 57 points or 1.19%.