U.S. dollar rises on upbeat economic data

NEW YORK, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar index rose on Tuesday as investors digested the latest economic data.

U.S. privately-owned housing was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,319,000 since March, beating market estimates, the Commerce Department announced Tuesday.

This is 1.9 percent above the revised February estimate of 1,295,000 and is 10.9 percent above the March 2017 rate of 1,189,000.

Meanwhile, U.S. industrial production rose 0.5 percent in March, above market consensus of 0.4 percnet, and the index advanced 4.5 percent at an annual rate for the first quarter of 2018 as a whole, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, increased 0.11 percent at 89.526 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro was down to 1.2365 dollars from 1.2377 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.4287 dollars from 1.4328 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.7769 dollar from 0.7778 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 107.01 Japanese yen, lower than 107.09 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar was up to 0.9661 Swiss franc from 0.9599 Swiss franc, and it was down to 1.2555 Canadian dollars from 1.2571 Canadian dollars. Enditem