Investing.com - The dollar pushed higher other major currencies on Wednesday, ahead of U.S. housing sector data, as the greenback still benefitted from the previous session’s strong U.S. consumer confidence data and as investors focused on the official beginning of the Brexit process.
EUR/USD dropped 0.56% to 1.0753, the lowest since March 21.
The dollar strengthened after the U.S. Consumer Board said on Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to a nerly 17-year high of 125.6 in March from 116.1 the previous month, far above expectations of a reading of 114.
The greenback was also boosted after Chicago Federal Bank President Charles Evans and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan on Monday suggested that the U.S. central bank will continue its monetary tightening cycle.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD edged up 0.12% to 1.2461, as investors awaited British Prime Minister Theresa May's move later on Wednesday to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and formally begin the two year process of withdrawing from the EU.
USD/JPY slid 0.32% to 110.79, while USD/CHF gained 0.43% to 0.9965.
The Australian dollar remained stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.21% at 0.7649 and with NZD/USD little changed at 0.7019.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD fell 0.13% to trade at 1.3367.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.33% at 99.86, the highest since March 21.