NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The dollar held onto gains against major rivals Friday after a report showed U.S. housing starts rose 3.6% in June to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 582,000. The dollar index (DXY 79.51, +0.30, +0.37%) , which tracks the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major rivals, was at 79.603, up from 79.222 in late North American trading on Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected housing starts to continue at a 531,000 pace. Traders also kept an eye on the reaction of equities to earnings from General Electric (GE 11.91, -0.49, -3.95%) and Citigroup (C 3.09, +0.06, +1.98%) . The U.S. currency was higher before the data as a series of hotel blasts in Jakarta early Friday fueled a renewed flight to the relative safety of government debt.
