Forexpros - The euro advanced to session highs against the U.S. dollar on Monday, buoyed by hopes for an agreement on a delayed bailout payment for Greece and signs of progress in resolving the U.S. fiscal cliff.
EUR/USD hit 1.2820 during U.S. morning trade, the pair’s highest since November 7; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2814, gaining 0.56%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2689, Friday’s low and resistance at 1.2875, the high of November 7.
Market participants were looking ahead of a meeting of the eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers on Tuesday to discuss whether Greece will receive its next tranche of financial aid.
A decision on unlocking Greece’s next bailout installment has been delayed by disagreements between officials from the International Monetary Fund and Europe on how best to reduce the country’s debt to manageable levels.
Concerns over the economic outlook for the euro zone persisted after Germany's central bank warned earlier that economic growth in the bloc’s largest economy is weakening as a result of the crisis in the region, as well as problems in the global economy.
Meanwhile, market sentiment was boosted after U.S. Congressional leaders said talks with President Barack Obama on Friday to avert the fiscal cliff, a combination of automatic tax increases and spending cuts due to come into effect from January, were "constructive."
The euro was higher against the pound and the yen, with EUR/GBP up 0.36% to 0.8052 and EUR/JPY rising 0.43% to 104.05.
Also Monday, the National Association of Realtors said that U.S. existing home sales rose by 2.1% to a seasonally adjusted 4.79 million units in October from September’s revised total of 4.69 million.
September existing home sales were initially reported at 4.75 million units.
Analysts had expected U.S. existing home sales to rise to 4.75 million units in October.
