Forex - EUR/USD slips to fresh 11-year lows, ECB move still weighs

The euro slipped to fresh 11-year lows against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as news of a fresh easing measures by the European Central Bank continued to weigh, while markets eyed a string of manufacturing and service sector data from euro zone countries due later in the day.
EUR/USD hit 1.1315 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since September 2003; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.1342, slipping 0.17%.

The pair was likely to find support at 1.0762 and resistance at 1.1647, Thursday's high.

The single currency came under broad selling pressure after ECB President Mario Draghi on Thursday said it will make monthly purchases of €60 billion per month, starting in March and continuing until late 2016.

Draghi acknowledged the action the ECB took last year was “insufficient” to ward off the threat of deflation in the region. The annual rate of inflation in the euro area fell into negative territory last month, dropping 0.2%.

Draghi said the risks to the euro area recovery remain to the “downside” but added that today’s action should bolster the outlook. He noted that lower oil prices should help households and support a wider recovery.

Meanwhile, the dollar remained supported after data showed that U.S. jobless claims fell from a seven-month high last week, albeit less than economists had initially anticipated.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending January 17 decreased by 10,000 to 307,000 from the previous week’s total of 317,000.

Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to decline by 17,000 to 300,000 last week.

The euro was hovering close to seven-year lows against the pound, with EUR/GBP edging down 0.13% to 0.7561.

Later in the day, the euro zone was to publish preliminary data on private sector activity, while Germany and France were to also to publish data on private sector growth.

The U.S. was to release preliminary data on manufacturing activity and a private sector report on existing home sales.

Investing.com  Jan 23, 2015 07:27AM GMT