Investing.com - The number of housing starts issued in the U.S. rose more than expected in September, while building permits fell more than forecast, official data showed Tuesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that housing starts rose 6.5% to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.206 million units last month from August’s total of 1.132 million units. Analysts had expected a figure of 1.140 million.
The report also showed that the number of building permits issued dropped by 5.0% to a seasonally adjusted 1.103 million units from August’s total of 1.170 million. Analysts expected building permits to fall by 0.9% to 1.164 million units in July.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1364 from around 1.1368 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.5474 from 1.5476 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 119.75 from 119.72 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 94.77, compared to 94.73 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures pointed to a loss of 0.1%, the S&P 500 futures shed 0.2%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.15%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,173.70 a troy ounce, compared to $1,174.30 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $46.34 a barrel from $46.30 earlier.