Investing.com – The dollar remained close to session highs against a basket of major currencies amid a sharp fall in the yen and upbeat economic data pointing to underlying strength in the US economy.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.57% to 88.59.
Gross domestic product increased at a 2.9% annual rate in the October-December period, the Commerce Department said in its final estimate on Wednesday, beating a previous estimate of 2.5%, and economists’ expectations for a 2.7% increase.
CIBC said the better-than-expected growth data was driven by an upward adjustment to consumer spending to 4.0% from 3.8% and a smaller drag from inventories.
Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S., meanwhile, rose for the first time in three months in February, but tight supply is expected to continue to weigh on upward momentum in the months ahead.
The National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales rose 3.1% to 107.5 in February.
Also supporting the greenback’s move higher was a slump in the yen amid easing concerns from the land-plot scandal engulfing Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.
Nobuhisa Sagawa, an ex-finance ministry bureaucrat, said there were no orders from Mr Abe, his wife Akie Abe, finance minister Taro Aso or any of the prime minister’s aides to alter documents about a sale of public land.
USD/JPY rose to a nearly two-week high of Y106.70, up 1.27%.
EUR/USD fell 0.56% to $1.2334, while GBP/USD lost 0.44% to $1.4096..
USD/CAD rose 0.09% to C$1.2900 as weakness in oil prices and NAFTA-related uncertainty weighed on the loonie.