• New Home Sales in the US rose at a stronger pace than expected in January.
• US Dollar Index clings to strong daily gains above 105.00.

Sales of new single‐family houses rose by 7.2% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 670,000, the data published jointly by the US Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development showed on Friday.

This reading followed December's increase of 7.2% (revised from 2.3%) and surpassed the market expectation of 2.5% by a wide margin.