1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises on upbeat data

The U.S. dollar climbed against other major currencies on Tuesday as economic data from the country came out positive.

U.S. privately-owned housing starts in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.135 million, the highest level since November 2007, the Commerce Department announced Tuesday. The latest reading was 20.2 percent above the revised March estimate and beat market consensus of 1.029 million.

Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial, said in a note that "After a slew of weak Q2 data thus far, and after months of disappointing housing market data, April housing starts and permits suggest that the housing market is finally responding to higher incomes and more jobs."

The euro was under pressure amid comments from a European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker on Tuesday. ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said that the central bank would slightly increase purchases under its Quantitative Easing program before an expected period of low liquidity in the summer.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six other currencies, was up 1.12 percent at 95.274 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1153 dollars from 1.1303 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound declined to 1.5497 dollars from 1.5658 dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7916 dollars from 0. 7980 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 120.71 Japanese yen, higher than 120.01 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar climbed to 0.9370 Swiss francs from 0.9258 Swiss francs, and it increased to 1.2221 Canadian dollars from 1.2164 Canadian dollars. Endite