Forex Pros – The euro advanced to a daily high against the yen on Monday, after a report showed that manufacturing activity in the euro zone expanded at the second-fastest rate since August 2000 last month. EUR/JPY hit 121.03 during European afternoon trade, the daily high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 120.84, gaining 0.52%. The pair was likely to find support at 119.33, the low of April 27 and resistance at 121.82, last Thursday’s high and a two-week high. The final Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 58 in April from 57.5 in March, indicating that factory output rose at a faster rate than in the previous month. The final PMI was higher than the preliminary estimate of 57.7 released last month. A reading above 50 indicates that activity increased, while a reading below 50 indicates that it decreased. However, the pickup in growth was largely driven by German and French factories, while activity in the Italian and Spanish manufacturing sectors grew at a slower pace. The manufacturing PMI for Germany rose to 62.0 from 60.9 in March, a stronger-than- expected result, while the manufacturing PMI for Italy fell to 55.5 from 56.2 and the manufacturing PMI for Spain fell to 50.6 from 51.6. The euro was also up against the Swiss franc, with EUR\/CHF climbing 0.39% to hit 1.2862. Also Monday, official data showed that Swiss retail sales slipped unexpectedly in March, while a separate report showed that manufacturing activity in Switzerland unexpectedly declined in April.

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