Investing.com - Pending home sales in the U.S. fell for the second straight month in September, dampening optimism over the health of the housing sector, industry data showed on Thursday.
In a report, the National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index dropped by a seasonally adjusted 2.3% last month, disappointing expectations for a gain of 1.0%.
Pending home sales in August fell by 1.4%, whose figure was revised from a previously reported drop of 1.4%.
Year-on-year, pending home sales rose at annualized rate of 2.5% in September, below forecasts for an increase of 7.4% and following a gain of 6.6% in the prior month.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.0963 from around 1.0958 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.5288 from 1.5280 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 120.99 from 121.04 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 97.47, compared to 97.50 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets were mildly lower after the open. The Dow 30 shed 0.15%, the S&P 500 dipped 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.5%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,154.60 a troy ounce, compared to $1,153.50 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $46.20 a barrel from $46.20 earlier.