Investing.com - The dollar edged higher against the other major currencies on Tuesday, after the release of mostly positive U.S. data boosted optimism over the strength of the economy.
USD/JPY was up 0.30% at 109.35.
The U.S. Commerce Department said housing starts rose 6.6% to 1.172 million units in April, compared to expectations for an increase to 1.127 million units.
The report also showed that building permits rose 3.6% to a 1.116 million units last month, compared to expectations for a 4.3% increase.
A separate report showed that U.S. consumer prices rose 0.4% in April, compared to expectations for a 0.3% gain and after an increase of 0.1% in March.
Year-over-year, consumer prices were 1.1% higher last month, in line with expectations.
Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy costs, increased as expected in April by 0.2%.
EUR/USD slipped 0.14% to 1.1304.
The dollar was lower against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.40% at 1.4460 and was higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF adding 0.21% to 0.9796.
Sterling pared earlier gains after the U.K. Office for National Statistics reported that the consumer price index rose by an annualized 0.3% in in April, slowing from 0.5% in March. Economists had expected the rate of inflation to remain stable at 0.5%.
Consumer prices rose just 0.1% from a month earlier in April, slowing sharply from 0.4% in March and below forecasts for a gain of 0.3%.
Core inflation, which strips out changes in the price of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, fell to 1.2%, falling short of economists' expectations for 1.4%.
The Australian dollar was higher, with AUD/USD up 0.38% at 0.7316, while NZD/USD was little changed at 0.6786.
Earlier Tuesday, the minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s May policy meeting revealed that board members were reluctant to lower interest rates, signaling that there is little chance for more rate cuts to come.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD advanced 0.40% to trade at 1.2945 after Statistics Canada said that manufacturing sales declined by 0.9% in March, compared to expectations for a 1.8% drop.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.12% at 94.65, re-approaching Friday’s three-week high of 94.84.