Investing.com - The U.S. dollar turned higher against other major currencies on Friday, bouncing off a three-year low after the release of strong U.S. housing sector data offset concerns over the rising U.S. deficit.
The dollar rebounded after data showed that U.S. homebuilding increased to more than a one-year high in January and that building permits soared to their highest level since 2007.
The greenback came under broad selling pressure earlier amid fresh concerns over the U.S. deficit, which is projected to climb near $1 trillion in 2019 following the announcement of infrastructure spending and large corporate tax cuts.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.38% at 88.82 by 08:40 a.m. ET (12:40 GMT), off a three-year trough of 88.16 hit earlier in the day.
The yen and the Swiss franc turned lower, with USD/JPY up 0.15% at 106.28 and with USD/CHF rising 0.25% to 0.9247.
Elsewhere, the euro and the pound were weaker, with EUR/USD down 0.39% at 1.2455 and with GBP/USD declining 0.45% to 1.4032.
Earlier Friday, the UK Office for National Statistics reported that retail sales rose 0.1%, disappointing expectations for an increase of 0.5%.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were also lower, with AUD/USD shedding 0.20% to 0.7925 and with NZD/USD falling 0.27% to 0.7388.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD gained 0.31% to trade at 1.2529 after Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales fell 0.3% in December, disappointing expectations for a 0.2% rise.