The euro today declined further against the US dollar for the fourth consecutive session after dovish comments from the European Central Bank‘s Coeure. The EUR/USD currency pair was on a downward trend despite the release of positive Markit Eurozone Services PMI data, which did not increase the attractiveness of the single currency.
The currency pair lost over 50 points from its daily high at the height of its decline as the US dollar strengthened against the euro.
The release of positive Markit France Services PMI data, which exceeded expectations by coming in at 56.9 versus the expected 55.3 could not reverse the pair’s decline. The same case applied to the Markit Germany Services PMI, which also exceeded expectations, but had minimal impact on the single currency. Dovish comments from the ECB’s Benoit Coeure mid-European session increased the selling pressure on the currency pair. Coeure stated that the ECB’s policy makers had not discussed a move towards changing the bank’s monetary policies.
There was increased demand for the US dollar as tracked by the US Dollar Index, which was trading above its opening price of 96.19 for most of today’s session. The index was trading at a multi-day high of 96.45 at the time of writing, which attests to the greenback’s strength.
The currency pair’s future performance is likely to be affected by the release of FOMC minutes scheduled for 18:00 GMT today.
The EUR/USD was trading at 1.1327 as at 13:57 GMT having declined from a high of 1.1370. The EUR/JPY was trading at 128.49 having declined from a high of 129.08.
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