U.S. housing starts fell more than expected in March and permits for future home construction hit a one-year low, suggesting some cooling in the housing market in line with signs of a sharp slowdown in economic growth in the first quarter.
March housing start data showed an 8.8 percent decline, while building permits fell 7.7 percent. Building permit figures were forecast to show a 1.7 percent rise to 1.2 million.
The U.S. dollar hit 10-month lows against some commodity currencies on Tuesday on a growing appetite for risky assets and lost further ground to the euro after weak U.S. economic data reinforced views that Federal Reserve monetary policy would remain dovish.
The dollar gained against the safe-haven yen for a second straight day, however, as investors moved into riskier currencies. The dollar was last up 0.17 percent against the yen at 109.14 yen.
Oil prices staged a turnaround Tuesday, as attention shifted to a Kuwaiti oil worker strike that was putting pressure on global supply, with the country's production drawn down from around 2.8 million barrels per day to 1.5 million.
That comes after a lower close for both WTI and Brent in the previous session, OPEC and non-OPEC producers failed to secure a supply freeze at a meeting in Doha.
U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures snapped a four-day losing streak, settling at $41.08, up 3 percent.
Reference: CNBC
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