The U.S. dollar rallied across the board Tuesday amid upbeat U.S. housing data, a sign that the U. S. economy has continued improving.
The greenback hit the highest level versus the euro after the Commerce Department reported U.S. housing starts rose sharply by 15.7 percent in July from the previous month.
Additionally, data showed that privately-owned housing starts for July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.093 million units, the highest level since last November.
Meanwhile, the consumer price index (CPI) in the U.S. increased 0.1 percent in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, while over the last 12 months, the index increased 2.0 percent before seasonal adjustment. The figures roughly met market expectations.
Global central bankers will start Thursday an annual summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Investors will pay close attention to the speech delivered by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen during the meeting to look for clues of a rate hike.
In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.3319 dollars from 1.3360 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.6618 dollars from 1.6728 dollars. The Australian dollar slipped to 0.9309 dollar from 0.9324 dollar.
The greenback bought 102.91 Japanese yen, higher than 102.58 yen of the previous session. The dollar went up to 0.9091 Swiss franc from 0.9064 Swiss franc, and moved up to 1.0944 Canadian dollars from 1.0888 Canadian dollars.