For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the EUR rose 0.21% against the USD and closed at 1.1797 on Friday.
On the data front, seasonally adjusted construction output in the Euro-zone climbed 0.1% MoM in September, after recording a revised flat reading in the prior month. Additionally, the region’s seasonally adjusted current account surplus widened to a record high level of €37.8 billion in September, compared to a revised current account surplus of €34.5 billion in the prior month.
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) Chief, Mario Draghi, reiterated that Euro-zone’s robust economic recovery was still in need of “substantial” monetary policy support to boost stubbornly low inflation and sluggish wage growth.
The greenback declined against its major peers on Friday, after a probe into Russian influence relating to the 2016 US presidential election deepened.
However, losses in the US Dollar were limited, after better-than-expected economic releases in the US boosted optimism over the health of the nation’s housing sector.
Data showed that housing starts in the US advanced 13.7% on a monthly basis to an annual rate of 1290.0K in October, jumping to a one-year high level, amid a surge in residential construction activity in the South. Markets had expected housing starts to rise to a level of 1190.0K, after recording a revised level of 1135.0K in the prior month.
Moreover, the nation’s building permits advanced 5.9% on monthly basis to an annual rate of 1297.0K in October, notching its highest level in nine months. In the prior month, building permits had registered a revised level of 1225.0K, while investors had envisaged for a rise to a level of 1250.0K.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.1737, with the EUR trading 0.51% lower against the USD from Friday’s close, after the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel failed to form a coalition Government which sparked a wave of political uncertainty in the Euro-zone’s largest economy.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.1700, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.1663. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.1796, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.1855.
Moving ahead, market participants would focus on a speech by the ECB President, Mario Draghi scheduled in a few hours. Further, the US leading indicator for October, set to release later in the day, will be on investors’ radar.
The currency pair is trading below its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
