(RTTNews) - The euro showed mixed trading against its major rivals in early deals on Monday due to lack of fresh trading cues.
The common currency outperformed against the pound due to the across the board weakness of the latter, while paring gains against the rest of majors on lack of clear risk-boosters.
Earlier in the morning, the euro rose above the 1.24 level against the US dollar after a gap of 4-days amid renewed risk-appetite on Friday's better-than-expected U.S. employment data as well as news that Greece is committed to reforms to comply with bailout terms.
The U.S. economy added more jobs than had been expected but the proceeding risk-rally failed to get a proper shape as the market has been focusing on stimulus measures from central banks in the U.S. and Europe.
According to a report released by the Labor Department on Friday, non-farm payroll employment increased by 163,000 jobs in July following a downwardly revised increase of 64,000 jobs in June. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 100,000 jobs compared to the addition of 80,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
Despite the job growth, the unemployment rate edged up to 8.3 percent in July from 8.2 percent in June. The increase surprised economists, who had expected the unemployment rate to come in unchanged.
The 17-nation bloc's currency's medium to long-term picture is still bleak although the ECB President Draghi signaled the central bank's intention of bond-buying program and Troika was somewhat happy over the weekend discussions with the Greece, saying "the implementation of the program were productive".
However, caution prevailed as the time-line for the proposed bond-buying program to reduce the soaring Spanish and Italian borrowing costs still unclear and whether the debt-striving Greece will fulfill the measures in order to receive the next tranche of EUR 11.5 billion austerity package in September.
In economic news, the eurozone investor confidence declined for the fifth consecutive month in August to the lowest level in more than three years, data released by think tank Sentix showed today. However, the investor sentiment index fell less than expected by 0.7 points to -30.3 in August.
The euro retreated back to below the 1.24 level against the dollar and dipped further below 1.2350, after having touched as high as 1.2444 in the Asian session. Although the common currency snapped back above the 1.2350 area, it failed to make a clear headway from that mark.
Against the yen, the single currency reversed its direction after posting a fresh 3-week high of 97.82. The euro-yen pair shed more than 100-pips since then and is presently hovering around the 96.80 area.
(RTTNews) - Japan's leading economic index declined for the third consecutive month in June, and the rate of fall exceeded economists' expectations, preliminary data released by the Cabinet Office showed today.
The leading index, which is designed to measure the direction of the economy in the months ahead, fell to 92.6 from 65.2 in May. Economists were looking for a reading of 92.9.
The euro that advanced to a 4-day high of 1.2026 against the Swiss franc in the morning slipped to 1.2012 in early deals Monday.
On the flip side, the common currency rose to 0.7949 against the pound in early deals on Monday, its strongest level since July 9. The euro-pound pair is presently worth 0.7945 with 0.7990/0.80 seen as the next likely resistance area.
House prices in the United Kingdom decreased in July after rising in the previous two months as prices continue to fluctuate on a monthly basis, data from Lloyds Banking Group's Halifax division showed today. The house price index decreased 0.6 percent on a monthly basis in July, following two consecutive increases in May and June.
Looking ahead, the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to speak via recorded video to the 32nd General Conference of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth at 9 am ET.
