Forexpros - The euro remained slightly higher against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, amid growing expectations that central banks in Europe and the U.S. will implement measures to bolster economic growth.
EUR/USD hit 1.2614 during European afternoon trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2590, inching up 0.12%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2567, Monday’s low and resistance at 1.2692, Friday’s high.
The greenback remained under pressure after data on Monday showed that the U.S. manufacturing sector had contracted for the first time since July 2009 in June.
The Institute for Supply Management said its index of U.S. manufacturing activity dropped to 49.7 in June, from 53.5 in May.
The weak data fuelled speculation that the Federal Reserve may implement a third round of quantitative easing to support economic growth, which has been hit by the ongoing debt crisis in the euro zone.
Investors were also eyeing the outcome of the ECB’s policy meeting on Thursday, amid growing expectations for a rate cut to help bolster growth in the bloc.
Data on Monday showed that the unemployment rate in the region rose to a record in May, while the manufacturing sector remained firmly in contraction territory in June.
The euro was higher against the pound and the yen, with EUR/GBP up 0.18% to 0.8028 and EUR/JPY adding 0.44% to trade at 100.43.
Later Tuesday, the U.S. was to publish official data on factory orders.
