1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar declines on profit-taking, negative data

The U.S. dollar fell against most major currencies on Tuesday on investors' profit-taking and negative housing data from the country.

Analysts said the greenback slipped as traders took profits on bullish positions, which were underpinned by the Federal Reserve's decision last week to raise interest rate for the first time in nine years.

The greenback was under further pressure as the country's housing data came out negative. Total existing home sales fell considerably 10.5 percent in November, the slowest pace in 19 months, according to the National Association of Realtors Tuesday.

Meanwhile, U.S. Commerce Department announced Tuesday that the "third" estimate of real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.0 percent in the third quarter of 2015, slightly down from the second estimate of 2.1 percent.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.14 percent at 98.223 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro increased to 1.0954 dollars from 1.0921 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound went down to 1.4814 U.S. dollars from 1.4883 dollars. The Australian dollar edged up to 0.7227 dollar from 0.7187 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 121.04 Japanese yen, lower than 121.05 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar went down to 0.9877 Swiss francs from 0.9919 Swiss francs, and it dropped to 1.3940 Canadian dollars from 1.3964 Canadian dollars. Endit