One of the most important events during the trading week was the monetary policy meeting of the European Central Bank. It turned out to be relatively positive for the euro, allowing the currency to rally against the US dollar and the Great Britain pound, though the euro did not perform well against all rivals.
While ECB President Mario Draghi talked about the possibility of additional monetary stimulus, he did not sound as dovish as market participants had anticipated. That made them more optimistic and interested in buying the euro. Therefore, the currency was able to rally against the dollar and the sterling, though it trimmed gains versus the greenback by the weekend.
With that said, the euro was not an unquestionable winner during the week. For example, it lost to the yen and ended trading little changed against the Swiss franc. Prospects for monetary tightening from the Federal Reserve will make it hard for the shared 19-nation currency to keep the upward momentum next week. Some analysts argued that the passiveness of the ECB gives more room for the Fed to act and may encourage US policy makers to tighten policy earlier.
EUR/USD opened at 1.1155 and close at 1.1228 after touching the weekly high of 1.1324. EUR/GBP rallied from 0.8380 to 0.8467. EUR/JPY was down from 116.06 to 115.34, though bounced from the weekly low of 113.80. EUR/CHF ended the week at 1.0953, not far from the open of 1.0940.
If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the Euro,
feel free to post them using the commentary form below.