For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the EUR slightly rose against the USD and closed at 1.2314 on Friday.
Macroeconomic data indicated that Germany’s seasonally adjusted final industrial production unexpectedly eased 0.1% on a monthly basis in January, while a preliminary reading had indicated an advance of 0.6%. Industrial production had registered a revised fall of 0.5% in the prior month. Further, the nation’s seasonally adjusted trade surplus surprisingly narrowed to €17.4 billion in January, amid an unexpected decline in both imports and exports. The nation had posted a revised trade surplus of €18.1 billion in the prior month, while markets were anticipating it to post a steady reading.
The US Dollar declined against its major peers on Friday, as disappointing US wage growth data fuelled speculations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) would not be able to adopt an aggressive path of monetary policy tightening this year.
Data indicated that non-farm payrolls in the US jumped more-than-anticipated by 313.0K in February, notching its highest level in nearly 2 years, thus indicating that the nation’s labour market continues to add jobs at a healthy pace. Non-farm payrolls had registered a revised gain of 239.0K in the prior month, while investors had envisaged for a rise of 205.0K. Meanwhile, the nation’s average hourly earnings of all employees grew 0.1% MoM in February, undershooting market expectations for an advance of 0.2%, reigniting concerns that tighter jobs market is still failing to feed through to wage growth. In the prior month, average hourly earnings of all employees had recorded a rise of 0.3%.
Meanwhile, the nation’s unemployment rate unexpectedly remained unchanged at a 17-year low level of 4.1% in February, confounding market consensus for a fall to 4.0%.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.2323, with the EUR trading 0.07% higher against the USD from Friday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.2286, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.2249. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.2347, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.2371.
In absence of key macroeconomic releases in the Euro-zone today, investors would look forward to the US monthly budget statement for February, due to release later in the day.
The currency pair is trading between its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
