Forexpros – The euro was steady against the U.S. dollar on Monday, trading close to a 16-month low as ongoing fears over the deepening debt crisis in the euro zone outweighed Friday’s better-than-expected U.S. employment data.
EUR/USD hit 1.2667 during late Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since September 10, 2010; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2721, inching up 0.02%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2587, the low of August 24, 2010 and resistance at 1.2812, Friday’s high.
On Friday, data from the Department of Labor showed that the U.S. economy created 200,000 jobs in December, up from a downwardly revised 100,000 the previous month and surpassing expectations for a 150,000 increase. The unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 8.5%, the lowest level since February 2009.
But market sentiment remained downbeat amid concerns over rising borrowing costs in the euro zone, as markets looked ahead to government debt auctions by Spain and Italy later in the week.
The euro was almost unchanged against the pound, with EUR/GBP dipping 0.01% to hit 0.8244.
Later Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were to meet to discuss proposals to increase fiscal coordination in the single currency bloc.
In addition, the euro zone was to produce a report on investor confidence as well as official data on German industrial production.
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