Investing.com - The dollar pushed higher to hit a fresh two-month peak against the other major currencies on Tuesday, after data showed that U.S. new home sales rose far more than expected in April added to expectations for a June rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
USD/JPY climbed 0.69% to 109.99.
The U.S. Commerce Department said new home sales rose by 16.6% to 619,000 units last month, compared to expectations for a 2.0% increase.
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.
The data came after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said Monday that more factors favored a gradual rate increase versus keeping them steady.
Separately, San Francisco Fed President John Williams said he still sees the central bank raising interest rates two to three times this year.
EUR/USD was down 0.66% at two-month lows of 1.1146.
The euro weakened after the ZEW Centre for Economic Research said its index of German economic sentiment declined to 6.4 this month from April’s reading of 11.2. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 12.0 in May.
The index of euro zone economic sentiment dropped to 16.8 in May from 21.5 a month earlier, missing forecasts for 23.4.
The dollar was lower against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.74% at 1.4591 and was higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF advancing 0.40% to 0.9934.
Sterling gained ground after the latest ORB poll, published in Tuesday's Telegraph newspaper, showed that the “Remain’ campaign has a 13-point lead over the ‘Leave’ campaign ahead of the June 23 referendum on Britain’s European Union membership.
Support for remaining in the EU stood at 55%, while support for Brexit was at 42%.
Meanwhile, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said public sector net borrowing came in at 7.2 billion in April, down 4.4% from a year earlier. Economists had forecast a shortfall of 6.6 billion.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars remained weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.72% at 0.7172 and with NZD/USD retreating 0.52% to 0.6729.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD held steady at 1.3142, just off fresh six-week highs of 1.3187 hit earlier in the session.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.39% at 95.60, the highest since March 29.