Dollar Rises Against Major Counterparts

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar climbed higher on Wednesday, scoring gains against most of its major counterparts, amid uncertainty about an interest rate cut sometime soon following hawkish comments from some Fed officials.

On Tuesday, Federal Reserve governor Michelle Bowman has warned of upside risks to the inflation outlook and reiterated the need to keep borrowing costs elevated "for some time".

Bowman's counterpart Lisa Cook said that the timing of any rate adjustment will depend on how economic data evolve and what they imply for the economic outlook and balance of risks.

Amid much uncertainty about the interest-rate outlook, investors braced for the release of key U.S. inflation reading, due later this week for further direction.

In economic news today, a report released by the Commerce Department showed new home sales in the U.S. saw a substantial decrease in the month of May, plunging by 11.3 percent to an annual rate of 619,000, after jumping by 2.0 percent to a revised rate of 698,000 in April.

Economists had expected new home sales to rise to an annual rate of 640,000 from the 634,000 originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, building permits in the U.S. fell by 2.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.399 million in May, revised higher from a preliminary estimate of 1.386 million.

The dollar index surged to 106.13, gaining more than 0.5%.

Against the Euro, the dollar firmed to 1.0681 from around 1.0710. The dollar strengthened to 1.2621 against Pound Sterling.

The dollar gained against the Japanese currency, fetching 160.81 yen a unit. Against the Aussie, the dollar ended little changed at 0.6649.

The Swiss franc weakened to 0.8972 a dollar, while the Loonie weakened to 1.3704 a unit of U.S. dollar from around 1.3650.