Investing.com - Pending home sales in the U.S. rose less than expected in December, 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 inched up by a seasonally adjusted 0.1% last month, disappointing expectations for a gain of 0.8%. Pending home sales in November fell by 1.1%, whose figure was revised from a previously reported decline of 0.9%.
The modest uptick was fueled by a large increase in the Northeast that outpaced declines in the other three major regions.
Year-on-year, pending home sales rose at annualized rate of 3.1%, below forecasts for an increase of 4.8% and following a gain of 4.9% in the prior month.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says contract activity closed out the year on stable footing but lost some momentum, except for in the Northeast.
"Warmer than average weather and more favorable inventory conditions compared to other parts of the country encouraged more households in the Northeast to make the decision to buy last month," he said.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.0921 from around 1.0920 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4345 from 1.4344 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 118.88 from 118.90 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 98.74, compared to 98.76 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets were higher after the open. The Dow 30 rose 0.75%, the S&P 500 tacked on 0.8%, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.9%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,113.40 a troy ounce, compared to $1,113.00 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $33.72 a barrel from $33.86 earlier.