Forexpros – The euro remained lower against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, as market sentiment weakened amid sustained global growth concerns while markets eyed speeches by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi later in the day.
EUR/USD hit 1.3134 during U.S. morning trade, the pair’s lowest since March 16; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3157, shedding 0.44%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3114, the low of February 17 and resistance at 1.3264, the high of March 19.
The shared currency came under pressure after Markit said in a report that its preliminary euro zone manufacturing purchasing managers’ index declined to 47.7 in March from a final reading of 49.0 the previous month, disappointing expectations for a rise to 49.6.
The report also indicated that the services purchasing managers’ index declined to 48.7 from 48.8 in February. Analysts had expected the services PMI to rise to 49.3 in March.
The data came after a report showed that industrial new orders in the euro zone tumbled by a seasonally adjusted 2.3% in January, compared to expectations for a 2.1% drop.
Earlier in the day, data showed that manufacturing activity in Germany slowed to the lowest level in four months in March, while the services sector also hit a four-month low.
Sentiment also weakened after a report showed that Chinese manufacturing activity contracted for a fifth consecutive month, underlining concerns over a possible slowdown in growth in the world’s second largest economy.
The reports overshadowed data showing that U.S. jobless claims fell to the lowest level since February 2008 last week.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending March 17 fell by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, beating expectations for a decline of 3,000 to 350,000.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 353,000 from 351,000.
Meanwhile, the single currency was almost unchanged against the pound with EUR/GBP edging up 0.02%, to hit 0.8328.
Later in the day, ECB President Draghi and Fed Chairman Bernanke were to speak at public engagements.
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