The euro showed mixed performance in early deals on Tuesday, although equities climbed across the board in Europe as investors await Janet Yellen's testimony before the House Financial Services Committee later in the day. In her first public appearance before Congress after being sworn in as the first woman to head the U.S. Federal Reserve, Yellen will probably reiterate that a gradual decline in asset-buying program is likely, as long as the economy improves as expected. Investors will scrutinize her assessment of economic conditions following recent mixed economic reports and the Fed's decision to reduce its economic stimulus by a further $10 billion a month. Yellen will appear before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday. There were no major economic releases from the common currency area today. Elsewhere, the overall retail sales in the United Kingdom rose 5.4 percent in January compared to a year earlier, its fastest rate since March 2010 after a weak December, a monthly industry survey by the British Retail Consortium showed. Sales growth on a like-for-like basis was the highest since April 2011. The Confederation of British Industry lifted its U.K. growth forecasts for this year to 2.6 percent, up from the group's previous forecast of 2.4 percent, saying investment by companies amid low borrowing costs will make a "positive contribution" to growth. However, the business lobby expressed concerns about political uncertainty as the nation enters a lengthy election campaign. The euro rose to 140.10 against the yen, its highest level since January 29. The euro-yen pair thus moved back above a trend-line support and the sell-off in the past month seems to have a corrective one. Next key levels to watch for the euro-yen pair on the upside are 141.10, 142.40, 143.0 and 145.20. The common currency climbed to nearly a 2-week high of 1.3683 against the US dollar, improving from 1.3646 hit late New York Monday. The trend-line resistance of a descending channel in the euro-greenback pair has broken and the pair is heading towards its next resistance around the 1.37 area. The single currency that advanced to a 5-day high of 0.8337 against the pound and a session's high of 1.2250 against the Swiss franc in the Asian session erased some of its gains in early London deals due lack of adequate macroeconomic support. The euro-pound pair was trading in a range between 0.8313 and 0.8328 and the euro-franc pair was moving between 1.2237 and 1.2247 around 6:15 am ET.

Source