Investing.com - U.S. existing home sales rose more than expected in June to hit the highest level since 2007, boosting optimism over the health of the economy and supporting the case for a U.S. interest rate hike this year, industry data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales increased 3.2% to a seasonally adjusted 5.49 million units last month from 5.32 million in May. Analysts had expected existing home sales to rise 1.2% to 5.40 million units in June.
Existing-home sales increased in June to their highest pace in over eight years, while the cumulative effect of rising demand and limited supply helped push the national median sales price to an all-time high, according to the National Association of Realtors.
All major regions experienced sales gains in June and have now risen above year-over-year levels for six consecutive months.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says backed by June's solid gain in closings, this year's spring buying season has been the strongest since the downturn.
"Buyers have come back in force, leading to the strongest past two months in sales since early 2007," he said.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.0886 from around 1.0899 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.5619 from 1.5623 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 124.03 from 123.98 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 97.82, compared to 97.75 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets were lower after the open. The Dow 30 dropped 0.1%, the S&P 500 shed 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.7%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,087.90 a troy ounce, compared to $1,089.50 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $49.95 a barrel from $50.05 earlier.