(RTTNews) - In early European deals on Thursday, the euro pared its late Asian session's gains against the dollar, yen and pound on caution ahead of the European Central Bank president Mario Draghi's speech in a panel discussion in London along with Bank of England governor Mervyn King at the Global Investment Conference.
Following ECB policy maker Ewald Nowotny's comments yesterday regarding the ESM license, markets will pay attention on signals from ECB president whether he keeps opposing such measures like the one suggested for the ESM, or not.
There are arguments in favor of providing a banking license to Europe's permanent bailout fund, Nowotny told Bloomberg in an interview.
"I am not aware of specific discussions within the ECB at this point but it is of course a discussion we have at the European level," he said. "I think there are pro arguments for this." A banking license will give the European Stability Mechanism an access to ECB lending.
In economic news, a key survey from Market research group GfK revealed that German consumer confidence is set to rise modestly in August despite the growing tensions surrounding the Eurozone's economic prospects.
The consumer confidence index for August rose to 5.9 from 5.8 in July. Economists expected the index to remain at the July level.
After hitting a high of 0.7856 against the pound at 2:30 am ET, the euro declined. As of now, the euro-pound pair is worth 0.7834 with 0.782 seen as the next downside target level.
The euro is now worth 1.2125 against the dollar and 94.80 against the yen, down from highs of 1.2162 and 95.12, hit respectively at 2:25 am ET. If the euro weakens further, it will target 1.210 against the dollar and 94.4 against the yen.
The U.S. durable goods orders and pending home sales - both for June and the weekly jobless claims report for the week ended July 21 are slated for release in the New York morning session.
