The U.S. dollar climbed against most major currencies on Wednesday as recent economic data from the country came out overall positive, spurring market expectation for an interest-rate later this year.
U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday that privately-owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.189 million units, 4.8 percent above the revised May estimate. The latest reading also beat market consensus of 1.170 million.
Moreover, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Friday that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for June increased 0.6 percent from the previous month to 457.0 billion U.S. dollars, beating market consensus of a 0.1-percent gain.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.10 percent at 97.161 in late trading on Wednesday, the highest level in four months.
In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1005 dollars from 1.1012 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound gained to 1.3148 dollars from 1.3092 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7475 dollars from 0.7505 dollars. The dollar bought 106.86 Japanese yen, higher than 106.04 yen of the previous session. The dollar rose to 0.9875 Swiss francs from 0.9858 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.3062 Canadian dollars from 1.3034 Canadian dollars.
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