Investing.com - U.S. new home sales jumped more than expected in July, 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 jumped by 12.4% to a seasonally adjusted 654,000 units last month.
New home sales in June were revised down to 582,000 units, or a 1.7% gain, from the prior reading of a 3.5% increase to 592,000 units.
Analysts had expected a 2.0% decline from the initial June number to a total of 580,000 units.
After the report, that was released simultaneously with the August Richmond manufacturing index, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1325 from around 1.1326 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.3185 from 1.3184 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 100.09, compared to the prior 100.08.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 94.38, compared to 94.39 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stocks were trading higher after the open as the Dow 30 gained 90 points, or 0.49%, the S&P 500 rose 11 points, or 0.49% , and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded up 31 points, or 0.59%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,346.45 a troy ounce, compared to $1,346.75 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $46.77 a barrel from $46.70 earlier.