Forexpros – The euro pared gains against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, as investors remained wary of pushing the single currency too high ahead of Thursday’s deadline for a Greek debt swap deal and after slightly stronger-than-forecast U.S. employment data.
EUR/USD pulled away from 1.3164, the session high, to hit 1.3113 during U.S. morning trade, up just 0.01% on the day.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3043, the low of February 15 and resistance at 1.3225, Tuesday’s high.
Sentiment on the shared currency was fragile ahead of Thursday’s deadline for Greece’s private creditors to sign up to a bond swap deal, which is aimed at writing down 53.5% of the country’s EUR177 billion debt.
A participation rate of more than 75% of creditors is required for Greece to secure a EUR130 billion bailout in order to avoid a default when a bond repayment due on March 20.
In the U.S., a report by U.S. payroll processing firm ADP showed that the private sector added 216,000 jobs in February, beating expectations for an increase of 205,000.
The previous month’s figure was revised up to a gain of 173,000 from a previously reported increase of 170,000.
Earlier in the day, official data showed that German factory orders tumbled by a seasonally adjusted 2.7% in January, confounding expectations for a 0.6% increase, as orders for capitals goods and consumer goods weakened.
The euro was fractionally lower against the pound and the yen, with EUR/GBP inching down 0.01% to hit 0.8342 and EUR/JPY dipping 0.05% to hit 106.02.
Also Wednesday, official data showed that U.S. non-farm productivity rose more than initially expected in the final three months of 2011, while unit labor costs jumped more-than-expected.
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