U.S. dollar rises amid upbeat data

The U.S. dollar climbed against most major currencies on Friday as economic data from the country came out overall positive.

U.S. sales of new single-family houses in November 2016 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000, beating market consensus of 580,000, said the Department of Commerce Friday.

This is 5.2 percent above the revised October rate of 563,000 and is 16.5 percent above the November 2015 estimate of 508,000.

Meanwhile, the final reading of consumer sentiment index published by Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan came in at 98.2 for December, generally in line with market estimates.

The greenback held steady amid thin trading before Christmas holidays. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.05 percent at 103.040 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0448 dollars from 1.0433 dollars, and the British pound dropped to 1.2274 dollars from 1.2287 dollars. The Australian dollar slipped to 0.7169 dollars from 0.7203 dollars.

The dollar bought 117.25 Japanese yen, lower than 117.62 yen in the previous session. The dollar inched up to 1.0279 Swiss francs from 1.0257 Swiss francs, and it climbed to 1.3545 Canadian dollars from 1.3497 Canadian dollars. Enditem