The dollar rose on Wednesday in thin trading, helped by data the previous day showing a surge in U.S. new home sales, but gains were capped by uncertainty ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's speech at a central bankers' conference on Friday.
Against a basket of major currencies, the dollar rose 0.2 percent to 94.764 .DXY.
Futures markets on Wednesday were indicating an 18 percent chance the U.S. central bank would hike rates at its policy meeting next month, and roughly 50 percent odds of a rate increase in December, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
U.S. home resales fell more than expected in July after four straight months of strong gains, as a lack of inventory limited choice for buyers, but further price rises suggested the housing market remained on solid ground.
The slump in sales reported by the National Association of Realtors on Wednesday is likely to be temporary, given that a tightening labor market is steadily pushing up wages and mortgage rates are near historically low levels.
Existing home sales declined 3.2 percent to an annual rate of 5.39 million units last month, the NAR said. It blamed the drop in sales on the dearth of properties on the market, which lifted the median house price 5.3 percent from a year ago.
Oil prices tumbled on Wednesday, with U.S. crude settling about 3 percent lower, after an unexpectedly large inventory build in the world's biggest oil consumer renewed worries about oversupply.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude inventories rose 2.5 million barrels last week, versus analysts' forecasts for a draw of 500,000 barrels. [EIA/S]
Gasoline and distillate stocks also rose, the EIA said, driving down oil prices that had mostly risen in the past two weeks on speculation of an output freeze by OPEC.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures CLc1 settled down $1.33, or 2.8 percent, at $46.77 per barrel.
Reference: Reuters
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