U.S. dollar mixed amid solid data

The U.S. dollar traded mixed against other major currencies Wednesday amid positive economic data from the country.

U.S. new orders for manufactured durable goods in October increased 6.9 billion U.S. dollars, or 3.0 percent, to 239 billion dollars, well above market consensus, the Commerce Department announced Wednesday.

In a separate report, the department said U.S. personal income in October increased 68.1 billion dollars, or 0.4 percent, which is in line with market estimates. Personal consumption expenditures increased 15.2 billion dollars, or 0.1 percent, in October.

U.S. sales of new single-family houses in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 495,000, according to the Commerce Department Wednesday. This is 10.7 percent above the revised September rate of 447,000 and is 4.9 percent above the October 2014 estimate of 472,000.

Meanwhile, in the week ending Nov. 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits decreased 12,000 from the previous week's revised level to 260,000, below market expectations of 270,000, reported the U.S. Labor Department Wednesday.

The upbeat data bolstered market expectation for an interest-rate hike by year-end. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.24 percent at 99.764 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.0617 dollars from 1.0650 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound rose to 1.5128 dollars from 1.5087 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar climbed to 0.7253 U.S. dollar from 0.7246 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 122.72 Japanese yen, higher than 122.46 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar hiked to 1.0218 Swiss franc from 1.0152 Swiss franc and went down to 1.3294 Canadian dollars from 1.3296 Canadian dollars. Endit