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

The U.S. dollar rose against other major currencies on Monday as economic data from the country came out positive, bolstering market expectation for an interest- rate hike this year.

Fueled partly by an increase in the share of sales to first- time buyers, U.S. existing-home sales increased in May to their highest pace in nearly six years, reported the National Association of Realtors on Monday.

According to the report, total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, rose 5.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million in May from an upwardly revised 5.09 million in April.

Analysts said the strong report suggested that the recovery of U.S. housing market was back on track after some missteps in the first quarter, which helped keep the Federal Reserve on course to raise interest rates later this year.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.26 percent at 94.333 in late trading.

Investors also kept an eye on the Greek debt situation. Eurozone leaders gathered in Brussels for an informal emergency summit late Monday, trying to reach an agreement on Greece's new proposal offered Monday morning.

In late New York trading, the euro dropped to 1.1339 dollars from 1.1353 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound fell to 1.5829 dollars from 1.5882 dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7727 dollar from 0.7766 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 123.39 Japanese yen, higher than 122.65 yen of the previous session. The greenback inched up to 0.9213 Swiss franc from 0.9173 Swiss franc, and increased to 1.2317 Canadian dollars from 1.2262 Canadian dollars. Endite