Forexpros – The euro was trading in a narrow range against the U.S. dollar on Monday, following the release of weak euro zone employment data, as investors looked ahead to the release of U.S. manufacturing data later in the day.
EUR/USD hit 1.3380 during European afternoon trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3343, edging up 0.02%.
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.
Concerns that the euro zone is slipping into a recession were underlined earlier after official data showed 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.
On Friday, euro zone finance ministers agreed to strengthen the bloc’s debt firewall, but fears remained over whether the measures would be enough to prevent contagion to Spain and Italy.
But market sentiment remained supported 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.
Risk appetite was also boosted by a report earlier showing that U.K. manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest rate in 10 months in March.
The euro was lower against the pound and the yen, with EUR/GBP slipping 0.08% to hit 0.8321 and EUR/JPY shedding 0.39% to hit 110.13.
Later Monday, the Institute of Supply Management was to release a closely watched report on U.S. manufacturing activity.
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