Investing.com - Pending home sales in the U.S. rose less than expected in July, 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 0.5% last month, disappointing expectations for a gain of 1.0%.
Pending home sales in June fell by 1.7%, whose figure was revised from a previously reported drop of 1.7%.
Year-on-year, pending home sales rose at annualized rate of 7.2% in July, below forecasts for an increase of 8.3% and following a gain of 11.1% in June.
The index has increased year-over-year for 11 consecutive months and is the third highest reading of 2015.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the housing market began the second half of 2015 on a positive note, with pending sales slightly rising in July.
"Led by a solid gain in the Northeast, contract activity in most of the country held steady last month, which bodes well for existing-sales to maintain their recent elevated pace to close out the summer," he said.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1257 from around 1.1250 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.5412 from 1.5415 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 120.38 from 120.45 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 95.67, compared to 95.73 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets were higher after the open. The Dow 30 rose 1%, the S&P 500 climbed 1.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.5%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,119.50 a troy ounce, compared to $1,118.00 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $40.28 a barrel from $40.23 earlier.