Dollar rises against rivals on home-sales data

New York (Sept 24)   The dollar rose against most of its rivals after data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce showed that new-home sales surged to a six-year high in August, beating expectations.

The dollar USDJPY, +0.04%   traded at 108.86 yen Wednesday, compared with ¥108.80 late Tuesday in New York, recovering after the greenback recorded a bout of selling in early Asia trade. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly said he wants to be cautious about the impact from the recent weakening of the yen, which sent the dollar to as low as ¥108.46.

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.36%  , a measure of the greenback’s strength against six rival currencies, was at 84.9630 Wednesday, compared to 84.6580 late Tuesday.

The German Ifo survey of business sentiment, released Wednesday, fell to a 17-month low in August, sending the euro EURUSD, -0.51% to a 14-month low of $1.2774 as investors worried that Germany’s economic recovery had stalled. The euro recovered slightly, trading at $1.2784 Wednesday, compared to $1.2841 Tuesday evening.

Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar USDCAD, -0.11%  rose to a six-month high against the Canadian dollar, driven lower by the impending expiration of about $520 million in Canadian dollar put options. The greenback traded at 1.1123 Canadian dollars, up from 1.1078 Canadian dollars Tuesday evening.

Source: MarketWatch