The euro advanced against its major rivals in European deals on Tuesday, as traders cheered positive developments in Greece, where the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reshuffled its team of bailout negotiators, in order to unlock aid and avert a default.
While speaking to a Greek television channel, Tsipras said his government is close to reach a deal with international creditors, possibly as soon as the end of next week.
Tsipras set up a new team to handle negotiations with Greece’s lenders, while offering some concessions such as asset sales to strike a deal on reforms at the earliest. Greece’s talks with EU leaders have been deadlocked over reform proposals, with Athens running short of money to pay the bills.
Meanwhile, European stocks are trading lower, as weak U.K. GDP data and mixed earnings reports prompted investors to lock in some profits after sharp gains yesterday.
The euro was steady against its major rivals in the Asian session.
The single currency advanced to 1.0474 against the franc, its highest since April 7, and was up by 0.78 percent from yesterday’s closing value of 1.0393. The euro-franc pair is likely to find resistance around the 1.06 zone.
Reversing from an early low of 129.35 against the yen, the euro climbed to a 4-day high of 130.08. Continuation of the euro’s uptrend may lead it to a resistance surrounding the 131.00 mark. The pair was valued at 129.63 at yesterday’s close.
Japan’s retail sales fell 9.7 percent on year in March, coming in at 12.396 trillion yen, data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed.
That missed forecasts for a decline of 7.5 percent following the 1.7 percent contraction in February.
The 19-nation currency spiked up to 1.0944 against the U.S. dollar, a 3-week high. This marks an increase of 0.51 percent from Monday’s closing value of 1.0888. If the euro extends gain, 1.10 is seen as its next possible resistance level.
The euro bounced off from an early 5-day low of 0.7131 against the pound, rising to 0.7169, and has been steady thereafter. On the upside, the euro may challenge resistance around the 0.72 region. At Monday’s close, the pair was worth 0.7146.
Looking ahead, U.S. S&P Case-Shiller home price index for February and consumer confidence index for April are slated for release in the New York session.
At 1:30 pm ET, European Central Bank Governing Council member Jens Weidmann is expected to speak at political forum, in Essen, Germany.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com