Dollar little changed after U.S. housing sector data

Investing.com - The dollar was little changed against the other major currencies in light trade on Wednesday, after the release of upbeat U.S. housing sector data and amid fresh uncertainty over the pace of future U.S. Interest rate hikes.

EUR/USD edged up 0.08% to 1.1142.

The U.S. National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales increased by 1.1% in May to 5.62 million units from 5.56 million units in the previous month. April’s data was revised down from an initial reading of 5.57 million units.

The consensus forecast was for a 0.5% drop from April’s initial reading to 5.55 million units.

The U.S. dollar had found some support following hawkish remarks made on Monday by New York Fed president William Dudley, who reinforced expectations for the Fed to keep raising interest rates.

However, Chicago Fed president Charles Evans did deliver a more dovish outlook after the market close on Monday, suggesting that it may be worthwhile for the U.S. central bank to wait until year-end to decide whether to raise rates again.

GBP/USD rose 0.25% to trade at 1.2662 after the U.K. Office of National Statistics said public sector net borrowing rose by £5.99 billion in May, compared to expectations for an increase of £7.00 billion.

Public sector net borrowing rose £8.68 billion in April, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated gain of £9.65 billion.

Elsewhere, USD/JPY added 0.12% to 111.58, while USD/CHF held steady at 0.9748.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.34% at 0.7555 and with NZD/USD shedding 0.21% to 0.7227.

Meanwhile, USD/CAD gained 0.14% to trade at 1.3285.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was little changed at 97.36.