For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the EUR rose 1.21% against the USD and closed at 1.2179 on Friday, following news that German Chancellor, Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU party has reached an initial deal with Martin Schulz’s centre-left SPD to start formal coalition talks.
On the macro front, Italy’s seasonally adjusted industrial production remained flat on a monthly basis in November, defying market expectations for a gain of 0.6%. In the previous month, industrial production had risen by a revised 0.6%.
The US Dollar declined against its major peers on Friday, following sluggish US inflation and retail sales reports.
Data indicated that consumer price index in the US climbed 0.1% on a monthly basis in December, meeting market expectations and compared to a rise of 0.4% in the prior month. Meanwhile, the nation’s advance retail sales grew 0.4% MoM in December, missing market anticipation for an increase of 0.5%. Advance retail sales had registered a revised rise of 0.9% in the previous month.
Other data revealed that business inventories in the US rose 0.4% on a monthly basis in November, meeting market expectations and following a revised flat reading in the previous month.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.2199, with the EUR trading 0.16% higher against the USD from Friday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.2089, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.1978. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.2261, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.2322.
Going ahead, traders would focus on the Euro-zone’s trade balance figures for November, scheduled to release in a few hours.
The currency pair is trading above its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
