Forex - EUR/USD trims losses ahead of U.S. data

The euro trimmed losses against the dollar on Thursday as official data showing that euro zone exports rose sharply in March offered some hope that the economy may return to growth.

EUR/USD pulled back from 1.2847, the session low, to hit 1.2874 during European afternoon trade, still down 0.10% for the day.

The pair was likely to find near-term support at 1.2842, Wednesday’s low and a six-week low and resistance at 1.2941, Wednesday’s high.

Eurostat said the euro zone posted a record trade surplus of EUR18.7 billion in March as exports grew 2.8% from February, while imports fell 1%.

A separate report confirmed that euro zone consumer price inflation fell 0.1% in April from the previous month, with the annual rate of inflation slowing to 1.2% from 1.7% in March.


The reports came one day after data showed that the recession in the bloc deepened in the first quarter, with the economy contracting 0.2%, bringing the annualized rate of decline to 0.9%.

The euro was lower against the pound, with EUR/GBP slipping 0.10% to 0.8449 and edged higher against the yen, with EUR/JPY easing up 0.13% to 131.93.

Investors were looking ahead to a series of U.S. economic data later in the day, including data on jobless claims, housing starts and consumer inflation amid ongoing speculation over a possible near-term exit from the Federal Reserve’s asset purchase program.