Dollar Falls Against Most Major Currencies

The U.S. dollar fell against most major currencies on Tuesday as some positive economic reports reduced safety demand for the U.S. currency.

Home prices in the largest 20 metropolitan areas in the United States rose 0.7 percent in June on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the S&P/Case-Schiller house price index released by Standard & Poor's. It was the first month-to-month increase in house prices since May 2006.

The price improvement was broad-based with 15 of the 20 major cities showing gains in June. Although the overall 20-city composite is still 15.5 percent lower than a year ago, the June increase suggests May could turn out to be the cyclical low, said analysts of Nomura Global Economics.

The Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence index rose to 54.1 in August from 47.4 in July, well above a general forecast of 47.9 points. The improvement was led by the forward-looking consumer expectations subcomponent, which jumped 10.1 points to its highest level since December 2007.

While the improvement in August is a good sign, analysts are not expecting a quick recovery in consumer confidence. "It is not likely that we will see a sustained improvement in September," said Brian Bethune, Chief U.S. Financial Economist of IHS Global Insight.

U.S. President Barack Obama nominated Ben Bernanke as Chairman of the Federal Reserve for a second term on Tuesday. The nomination sparked speculation that a continuation of Bernanke's monetary policy will weaken the dollar.

The euro bought 1.4309 dollars in late New York trading compared with 1.4288 dollars it bought late Monday. The pound fell to 1.6396 dollars from 1.6482 dollars.

The dollar rose to 1.0850 Canadian dollars from 1.0773 Canadian dollars, and fell to 1.0611 Swiss francs from 1.0634 Swiss francs. It fell to 94.20 Japanese yen from 94.54 Japanese yen.