Investing.com - The dollar pushed broadly higher against the other major currencies on Tuesday, after a string of U.S. economic reports and as expectations for a U.S. rate hike in the coming months continued to support.
The U.S. Commerce Department said that new home sales jumped 6.8% to 517,000 units last month, compared to expectations for a gain of 5.0% to 510,000. New home sales in March were revised up to 484,000 units from a previously reported 481,000 units.
The Commerce Department also reported that total U.S. durable goods orders, which include transportation items, declined by 0.5% last month, compared to expectations for a drop of 0.4%.
Core durable goods orders, excluding volatile transportation items, inched up 0.5% in April, beating forecasts for an increase of 0.4%.
In addition, the Conference Board said its index of consumer confidence rose to 95.4 this month from a reading of 94.3 in April, whose figure was revised from a previously reported 95.2. Analysts expected the index to ease up to 94.9 in May.
The greenback remained broadly supported after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reiterated Friday that the bank still expects to start raising interest rates later in the year if the economy continues to improve as expected.
USD/JPY hit highs of 123.33, the most since July 2007 and was last at 123.18, up 1.32% for the day.
The dollar’s gains came as markets reopened following a long holiday weekend, after markets in the U.K., Germany and the U.S. remained closed on Monday.
The euro was at one-month lows against the greenback, with EUR/USD down 0.81% to 1.0890.
The euro remained under heavy selling pressure as the prospect of a Greek default continued to weigh.
Athens has warned that the country would be unable to make a €305 million payment to the International Monetary Fund due on June 5 if a cash-for-reforms deal with its international lenders is not reached by then.
The pound and the Swiss franc were also weaker, with GBP/USD down 0.65% to 1.5370 and USD/CHF climbing 0.56% to 0.9505.
The commodity-linked currencies were broadly lower, with AUD/USD tumbling 1.05% to 0.7742 and NZD/USD retreating 0.93% to trade at 0.7242.
USD/CAD was up 0.93% to one-month highs of 1.2428.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.91% at five-week highs of 97.34.