Investing.com - The euro was trading near seven-week highs against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, after mixed U.S. economic reports and amid reports an Asian central bank bought the single currency. EUR/USD hit 1.3148 during European afternoon trade, the pair's highest since February 28; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3139, gaining 0.80%. The pair was likely to find support at 1.3021, the session low and resistance at 1.3245, the high of February 22. The Census Bureau said U.S. building permits rose by 0.902 million in March, less than the expected 0.940 million increase, after a 0.968 million rise the previous month. The report added that housing starts in the U.S. rose by 1.036 million units last month, beating expectations for an increase of 0.930 million, after a 0.986 million rise in February. Separately, official data showed that core consumer price inflation in the U.S. rose 0.1% in March, disappointing expectations for a 0.2% increase the previous month, after a 0.2% rise the previous month. Consumer price inflation, including food and energy, fell 0.2% last month after a 0.7% rise in February, compared to expectations for a 0.1% gain. The euro weakened earlier, after data showed that the German ZEW economic sentiment index dropped to 36.3 in April, from a reading of 48.5 the previous month, compared to expectations for a fall to 42.0. The euro zone ZEW economic sentiment index declined to 24.9 this month, from 33.4, compared to expectations for a reading of 31.5. A separate report showed that euro zone CPI remained unchanged at an annualized rate of 1.7% in March, in line with expectations. Core CPI in the single currency bloc rose to an annualized rate of 1.5% last month, from 1.3% in February, beating expectations for a rise to 1.4%. The euro was also higher against the pound with EUR/GBP advancing 0.57%, to hit 0.8578. Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on industrial production and the capacity utilization rate.

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