US dollar rises on upbeat data

Xinhua, New York :
The US dollar rose versus most of other currencies Friday amid upbeat economic data from the country.
U.S. privately-owned housing starts in September rose 6.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.017 million, said the U.S. Commerce Department on Friday. Building permits, a gauge of future construction, increased 1.5 percent last month, it added.
U.S. consumer sentiment jumped to the highest level in seven years in October, according to a survey released Friday. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary reading of the consumer sentiment index registered 86.4 in October, the highest since July 2007.
The recently released U.S. economic data mostly are positive. The number of Americans who initially applied for jobless benefits in the week ending Oct. 11 decreased 23,000 from the previous week to a seasonally adjusted 264,000, the lowest in 14 years, said the Labor Department Thursday.
In late New York trading, the euro lost to 1.2775 dollars from 1.2796 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.6108 dollars from 1.6061 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.8761 dollar from 0.8762 dollar. The dollar bought 106.68 Japanese yen, higher than 106.12 yen of the previous session. The greenback moved up to 0.9453 Swiss franc from 0.9435 Swiss franc, and moved up to 1.1272 Canadian dollars from 1.1255 Canadian dollars.