By V. Phani Kumar
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. dollar stayed weak against the euro and most of the major currencies Monday despite data showing weaker-than-expected sales of new homes, suggesting risk appetite remained in place following a strong start to the holiday-shopping season. The dollar index DXY -0.78% , which measures the greenback's performance against six major counterparts, was at 78.94, up a little from the day's 78.76 low, but lower than its level of 79.688 in North America Friday. The euro EURUSD +0.30% was fetching $1.3368 from $1.3224 on Friday. Against the Japanese unit, however, the dollar USDJPY +0.68% was changing hands for 77.983 yen from 77.405 yen, also reflecting investor appetite for risk. U.S. sales of new single-family homes rose 1.3% in October at an annual rate of 307,000, according to official figures released Monday, falling short of the 320,000 unit sales expected in a MarketWatch survey of economists.
