Forexpros – The euro traded lower against the U.S. Dollar Monday, as increasing U.S. manufacturing activity augmented the appeal of the greenback against a backdrop of continuing euro zone debt and growth fears.
EUR/USD hit 1.3279 during U.S. morning trade, the pair’s lowest since Thursday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3308, down 0.31%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3276, the low of March 28 and resistance at 1.3384, the high of March 27 and a one-month high.
Starting the rally in the greenback, the Institute for Supply Management reported the index of purchasing managers advanced to 53.4 in March, up from a reading of 52.4 the previous month, beating analysts expectations of a climb to 53.0
Hurting the euro, revised data indicated manufacturing in the euro zone held at a three-month low in March, remaining in contraction territory for the eight successive month.
However, euro zone manufacturing PMI remained unchanged at 47.7, in line with expectations.
In other euro zone news, a separate report indicated that the unemployment rate in the region ticked up to a record high of 10.8% in February from 10.7% the previous month, broadly in line with expectations.
The euro was lower against the pound and the yen, with EUR/GBP giving back 0.22% to hit 0.8311 and EUR/JPY plunging 1.04% to hit 109.43.
The euro found support earlier in the session after official data on Sunday showed that manufacturing activity in China jumped to an 11-month high in March, easing concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
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