Dollar Off Lows Despite Weak U.S. Housing Data By Investing.com

Investing.com – The dollar moved off session lows Monday against its rivals after clawing back losses against the yen, despite U.S. existing home sales falling for the third month in a row.

The , which measures the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose by 0.13% to 94.37.

Sales of previously-owned homes in the U.S. fell in June, as tight supply continued to ramp up house prices, deterring potential home buyers, weighing on housing activity.

Existing home sales in June from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of units, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said Monday. Economists were expecting a 0.5% increase to 5.46 million units.

“The root cause is without a doubt the severe housing shortage that is not releasing its grip on the nation’s housing market,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist with NAR.

The soft U.S. home sales data arrived as the dollar neared session highs after fighting its way back from session lows, following sharp losses against the yen.

The yen had rallied against the dollar earlier in the session as a Reuters report suggesting the Bank of Japan was in discussions to to make it more sustainable sent Japanese government bonds spiralling down and yields surging, prompting the central bank to offer to buy an unlimited amount of bonds.

was flat at Y111.47. The pair recovered from an intraday low of Y110.75.

Sentiment on the dollar has soured somewhat in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks last week, in which he expressed , asserting it was “taking away our [United States] big competitive edge.”

The dollar was also supported by weakness in both the euro and the pound.

fell 0.18% to $1.3106, while the fell 0.18% to $1.1700.

rose 0.09% to $1.3157 as oil prices reversed gains, pressuring the loonie and supporting the pair.