Investing.com - Pending home sales in the U.S. rose more than expected in April, boosting optimism over the health of the housing sector and supporting the case for a U.S. interest rate hike this year, industry data showed on Thursday.
In a report, the National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index increased by a seasonally adjusted 3.4% last month, easily surpassing expectations for a gain of 0.9%.
Pending home sales in March rose by 1.2%, whose figure was revised up from a previously reported gain of 1.1%.
Year-on-year, pending home sales rose at annualized rate of 13.4% in April, blowing past forecasts for an increase of 10.2% and following a gain of 13.5% in February.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.0880 from around 1.0890 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.5265 from 1.5286 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 124.31 from 124.33 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 97.63, compared to 97.61 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets were lower after the open. The Dow 30 shed 0.45%, the S&P 500 dipped 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.45%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,182.60 a troy ounce, compared to $1,182.30 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $57.72 a barrel from $56.81 earlier.