EURUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, EUR rose marginally against the USD and closed at 1.3067. Earlier the Euro came under pressure, as market angst about the Euro-zone debt crisis situation re-emerged, after Italian elections served up a recipe for political gridlock, giving a heavy blow to recent efforts to calm the region’s debt crisis.
However, comments from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman, Ben Bernanke eased market concerns of an early end to the Fed’s bond buying program, cooling demand for the greenback.
In a semi-annual testimony before the US Senate Banking Committee, Ben Bernanke stated that, the Fed’s $85 billion per month asset-buying program is needed to preserve a nascent housing recovery and modest improvement in the jobs market.
In the US economic news, the seasonally adjusted new home sales advanced 15.6% (MoM) to annual rate of 437,000 in January, from an upwardly revised rate of 378,000 recorded in December. Meanwhile, consumer confidence rebounded to a reading of 69.6 in February, higher than the expected reading of 61.0 and following a downwardly revised reading of 58.4 in January. Also, the Standard & Poor’s with Case-Shiller reported that, on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, 20-city composite House Price Index (HPI) rose 0.88% in December, from an upwardly revised 0.65% increase recorded in the previous month. Separately, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond reported that, its manufacturing index in the area rose to a reading of 6.0 in February, from a reading of -12.0 recorded in the previous month.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.3064, with the EUR trading marginally lower from yesterday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.3014, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.2963. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.3119, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.3173.
In today’s economic releases, Germany’s consumer confidence survey is forecast to register a rise in March, while the French consumer confidence is expected to remain flat in February. Meanwhile, consumer confidence in the Euro-zone is expected to record a slight drop in February.
The currency pair is showing convergence with its 20 Hr moving average and is trading below its 50 Hr moving average.
