1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises amid upbeat data, ECB easing

The U.S. dollar climbed against most major currencies on Friday as the economic data of the country came out overall positive and the euro extended losses on the quantitative easing (QE) program by the European Central Bank (ECB).

On the economic front, U.S. existing-home sales bounced back in December 2014 despite low inventory conditions, according to the National Association of Realtors on Friday. Total existing-home sales went up 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million units in December from a downwardly-revised 4.92 million in November.

Meanwhile, the greenback continued to soar against the euro on Thursday's ECB announcement, in which the central bank decided to start QE by purchasing public and private securities with a monthly amount of 60 billion euros through September 2016 in a bid to address prolonged low inflation in euro zone. The euro/dollar rate touched 1.1115 during the session, the lowest level since September 2003.

In late New York trading, the euro dropped to 1.1248 dollars from 1.1378 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.5018 dollars from 1.5014 dollars. The Australian dollar fell to 0.7929 dollars from 0.8058 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 117.74 Japanese yen, lower than 118.37 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar went up to 0.8767 Swiss francs from 0.8722 Swiss francs, and it climbed to 1.2424 Canadian dollars from 1.2367 Canadian dollars. Endite