US: New Home Sales jumped 7.1% in August vs. 3.5% expected

• New Home Sales in the US rose more than expected in August.
• The Greenback gathers strength on the data with the US Dollar Index advancing above 98.70.

According to the data published jointly by the  US  Census Bureau and the US  Department of Housing and Urban Development, sales of new single”family houses in August rose 7.1% to 713,000 following July’s decline of 8.6% and beat analysts’ estimate of 3.5% by a wide margin.

With the initial market reaction, the US Dollar Index edged higher and was last up 0.4% on the day at 98.73.