EURUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, EUR rose marginally against the USD and closed at 1.3047, as services PMI data released across Europe surprised market participants on the upside.
Economic data showed that Germany’s services PMI rose to 54.7 in February, up from a preliminary reading of 54.1. The final Euro-zone services PMI rose to 47.9 for February from a preliminary reading of 47.3. Also French service sector activity improved in February.
Separately, retail sales in the Euro-zone rose 1.2% (MoM) in January, against the expectations for a 0.2% rise, and compared to a 0.8% drop in December.
In the US, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported that, its non-manufacturing index rose to a reading of 56.0 in February against the expected drop to a reading of 55.0 and compared to reading of 55.2 recorded in January.
Yesterday, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) of Richmond, Jeffrey Lacker indicated that given the massive size of the balance sheet, it would be hard for the US central bank to exit from its ultra loose monetary policy when the time comes.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.3059, with the EUR trading marginally higher from yesterday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.3021, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.2982. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.3087, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.3114.
In economic news scheduled for release later today, the Euro-zone’s much awaited gross domestic product data is forecast to record an annual drop in Q42013.
The currency pair is trading above its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
