Investing.com - The euro rose to session highs against the yen and the pound on Thursday after data showed that manufacturing activity in Germany expanded at the fastest pace in more than two years in August. EUR/JPY hit 131.19 during European morning trade, the highest since August 5; the pair subsequently consolidated at 131.13, gaining 0.53%. The pair was likely to find support at 129.85, the low of August 19 and resistance at 132.50. The flash German manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 52.0 in August from a final reading of 50.7 in July. Analysts had expected the index to tick up to 51.2. Germany’s flash services PMI rose to a six-month high of 52.4 from 51.3 in July, beating expectations for a reading of 51.8. The data offset a report showing that the flash French manufacturing PMI remained unchanged at 49.7 in August, undershooting expectations for an uptick to 50.3. The French services PMI declined to a two-month low of 47.7 from 48.6 in July, compared to expectations for an improvement to 49.2. The single currency extended gains against sterling following the data, with EUR/GBP up 0.28% to 0.8552. The euro zone was to release PMI data later in the session. The euro remained slightly lower against the broadly stronger dollar, with EUR/USD dipping 0.06% to 1.3347. The dollar found support after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s July meeting showed that officials were "broadly comfortable" with plans to scale back the bank’s USD85 billion-a-month stimulus program. However, officials remain divided over the timing of possible reduction, with almost all committee members agreeing that a change in the asset purchase program was not yet appropriate.

Source