The U.S. dollar strengthened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Thursday amid speculation about the Federal Reserve's rate hike this year, in the wake of some upbeat economic data from the U.S.

Data from the National Association of Realtors or NAR showed that the existing home sales in the U.S. increased much more than expected in March, jumping to its highest rate in 18 months.

NAR said existing home sales surged 6.1 percent to an annual rate of 5.19 million in March from a revised 4.89 million in February. Economists expected existing home sales to climb to a rate of 5.05 million from the 4.88 million originally reported for the previous month.

Some analysts expect the Fed to act in September of this year.

The lingering Greek worries also raised the appeal of the safe-haven currency. Wednesday, the U.S. dollar showed mixed trading against its major rivals. While the U.S. dollar fell against the Euro and the pound, it rose against the Yen and the Swiss franc.

In the Asian trading today, the U.S. dollar rose to a 9-day high of 120.08 against the yen, an 8-day high of 0.7564 against the NZ dollar and a 2-day high of 1.0691 against the euro, from yesterday's closing quotes of 119.89, 0.7664 and 1.0722, respectively. If the greenback extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 121.00 against the yen, 0.73 against the kiwi and 1.04 against the euro.

Moving away from an early low of 0.9687 against the Swiss franc, the greenback advanced to an 8-day high of 0.9718. The greenback may test resistance near the 0.99 region.

The greenback edged up to 1.5014 against the pound, from yesterday's closing value of 1.5033. On the upside, 1.45 is seen as the next resistance levels for the greenback.

Against the Australia and the Canadian dollars, the greenback edged up to 0.7718 and 1.2268 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.7750 and 1.2235, respectively. It is likely to find resistance near 0.75 against the aussie and 1.26 against the loonie.

Looking ahead, Swiss trade data for March is due to be released at 2:00 am ET.

In the European session, PMI reports for April from major European economies and U.K. public sector finance data and retail sales data for March are slated for release.

At 3:45 am ET, European Central Bank board member Peter Praet is expected to speak at the "World monetary conference" in Berlin.

In the New York session, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended April 18, U.S. Markit's manufacturing PMI for April and U.S. new home sales data for March are set to be published.

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