Forex - Euro near 2-week lows against broadly higher dollar

The euro remained near two-week lows against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as demand for the greenback remained supported after Thursday's upbeat U.S. jobless claims data, while markets eyed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's upcoming speech. 


EUR/USD hit 1.3629 during European afternoon trade, the pair's lowest since December 22; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3643, slipping 0.20%. 

The pair was likely to find support at 1.3544, the low of December 5 and resistance at 1.3702, the high of December 26. 

The dollar remained supported after the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday said in a report earlier that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits declined by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 339,000 last week. 

Analysts had expected U.S. jobless claims to fall by 7,000 to 334,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 341,000. 

In the euro zone, official data earlier showed that the number of unemployed people in Spain dropped by 107,600 in December, compared to expectations for a 20,000 rise, after 2,500 decline the previous month. 

The euro was little changed against the pound, with EUR/GBP easing 0.04% to 0.8307. 

Also Friday, Markit research group said the U.K. construction purchasing managers' index fell to 62.1 in December, from a reading of 62.6 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to drop to 62.0 last month. 

The report came after industry data showed that U.K. house price inflation rose 1.4% in December, beating expectations for a 0.7% uptick, after an upwardly revised 0.7% increase in November
.