For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, EUR rose 0.15% against the USD and closed at 1.3248.
In the US economic news, the seasonally adjusted new home sales rose 4.4% to an annual rate of 377,000 in November, from the revised October rate of 361,000. Separately, the consumer confidence index dropped to a reading 65.1 in December, from a downwardly revised reading of 71.5 in November. Market had expected the index to drop to 70.0. Moreover, initial jobless claims, for the week ended December 22, fell to 350,000, compared to the previous week’s revised figure of 362,000. Continuing claims fell to 3.206 million in the week ended December 15, from the previous week’s revised level of 3.238 million.
Separately, the French consumer confidence index rose to a reading of 86.0 in December, compared to a reading 84.0 in November. Meanwhile, the producer price index for the domestic market rose 1.9% (YoY) in November, against the expectations for a 2.1% gain. Separately, Italian business confidence index for the manufacturing industry rose to a reading of 88.9 in December, compared to a reading of 88.5 in November.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.3243, with the EUR trading marginally lower from yesterday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.3202, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.3160. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.3284, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.3325.
Trading trends in the pair today are expected to be determined by the release of consumer spending and gross domestic product data in France and the producer price index data in Italy. In the US, investors await the release of the Chicago purchasing managers’ index and the pending home sales data.
The currency pair is showing convergence with its 20 Hr moving average and is trading above its 50 Hr moving average.