EURUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the EUR rose 0.66% against the USD and closed at 1.1402, following the peace deal between Ukraine and Russia and as investors shrugged off dismal economic data from the Euro-zone and Germany.
Data showed that consumer prices in Germany fell 1.1% on a monthly basis in January, higher than market expectations for a drop of 1.0% and compared to similar decline in the previous month.
Other economic data revealed that industrial production in the Euro-zone rose 0.1% on a monthly basis in December, lower than market forecasts for a 0.2% increase.
Separately, the ECB’s Executive Board Member, Peter Praet stated that the central bank’s recent measures of sovereign bond buying program have to be accompanied with reform initiatives by the governments of Euro-zone to generate a quicker and more sustained recovery in the common-currency region.
The greenback traded on a weaker footing, after advance retail sales in the US fell for the second-straight month, recording a sharp decline of 0.8% on a monthly basis in December, higher than market expected drop of 0.4%. It had eased 0.9% in November.
The Dollar was also pressurised after the number of people claiming unemployment benefits for the first time advanced more than expected to 304,000 in the week ended 7 February, from the previous week’s revised total of 279,000. Markets were expecting it to rise to 287,000, thus dampening optimism over the strength of the US labour market. Meanwhile, business inventories in the nation climbed less than expected by 0.1% in December, against market expectations of 0.2% advance.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.1418, with the EUR trading 0.14% higher from yesterday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.1341, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.1264. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.146, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.1501.
Trading trends in the Euro today are expected to be determined by the 4Q GDP data from the Euro-zone as well as from Germany, scheduled in few hours.
The currency pair is trading above its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
