Forexpros – The euro fell against the dollar Friday as investors snapped up greenback positions on robust new home sales data in the U.S., which fueled already rising optimism for the world’s largest economy in 2012.
EUR/USD hit 1.3044 during in U.S. trading, down 0.05%, comfortably hovering between a session low of 1.3027 and a high of 1.3096.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2983, Monday’s low, and resistance at 1.3196, Wednesday’s high.
New-home sales hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 315,000, up 1.6% above October’s revised rate of 310,000 and up 9.8% above 287,000 in November of last year.
Analysts had expected new home sales to rise to 313,000 last month.
Friday’s figures come in wake of dipping initial jobless claims data and rising overall economic growth rates, all of which are fueling hopes the U.S. economy will pick up its pace of recovery next year despite ongoing debt jitters in Europe.
“All of the housing numbers have looked a lot better recently,” said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to Bloomberg.
“Things aren’t getting any worse now and that’s an improvement.”
Still, a sentiment of caution reverberated across the markets.
Housing, one of the culprits of the U.S. recession, remains weak despite Friday’s numbers.
Demand for new homes is on pace to reach 304,000 this year, less than the 323,000 in 2010, which was the lowest since data-keeping began, Bloomberg adds.
Elsewhere in the U.S., more indicators hit the wire before the holiday weekend.
The Commerce Department reported that orders to U.S. factories for durable goods rose 3.8% in November from October but core durable goods, which are stripped of volatile transportation items, came to 0.3%, below forecasts.
Meanwhile, the euro was up against the pound and down against the yen, with EUR/GBP gaining 0.35% to hit 0.8354 and EUR/JPY falling 0.16% to hit 101.85.
Markets are set to temper due to the Christmas holidays, although traders will keep a close eye on European headlines.
Ratings agencies have threatened downgrades early in 2012.
On Monday, New Zealand will release trade balance figures while the Bank of Japan may release the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting.
Forexpros
