The EUR/USD currency pair rallied higher today after the release of strong Markit PMI data and retail sales data for the Eurozone. The currency pair’s rally was also due to the weaker US dollar as the solid rebound triggered by yesterday’s FOMC rate decision experienced a correction.
The currency pair gained over 70 points at the height of its rally given the weaker US dollar as tracked by the US Dollar index, which was trading below its opening price of 99.35.
The currency pair rallied higher after the release of the Markit Eurozone Composite PMI and the Markit Eurozone Composite PMI, both of which beat expectations. The Markit Eurozone Composite PMI came in at 56.8 versus the expected and the previous 56.7. The Markit Eurozone Composite PMI was recorded at 56.4 versus the expected 56.2. The single currency was largely unaffected by the fact that the French composite and services PMI did not meet expectations.
The pair was also boosted by the stronger retail sales data for the Eurozone, as released by Eurostat, which demonstrated an annualized increase of 2.3% versus the expected 2.1%. The televised French presidential election debate between Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron portrayed Macron as the better candidate, which also boosted the euro as fears of a Frexit dimish.
The European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi, is expected to give a speech in Lausanne Switzerland at 15:30 GMT, which is likely to impact the currency pair’s future performance.
The EUR/USD pair was trading at 1.0924 as at 12:16 GMT having retraced some of its gains from a high of 1.0940. The EUR/JPY was trading at 123.33 having opened the day’s session trading at 122.80.
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