Euro touches session's trough with Greece in focus, German data disappoints

On Tuesday the euro touched the session's lows amid uncertainties surrounding the Greek debt crisis.

Investors await the FOMC meeting on Wednesday for cues on the rate hike timing.

The greenback edged slightly higher after U.S. housing data.

The U.S. Commerce Department said that the number of building permits issued in May rose by 11.8% to 1.275 million units from April’s total of 1.140 million. Economists had expected building permits to fall by 3.5% to 1.100 million units in May.

The report also signaled that U.S. housing starts dropped by 11.1% in May to hit 1.036 million units from April’s total of 1.165 million units, worse than expectations for a decline of 3.1% to 1.100 million.

On Monday data showed that industrial production in the U.S. disappointed analysts' expectations. Despite this, the dollar remained buoyed.

EUR/USD slipped to 1.1247 losing 0.34%.

Earlier today, the ZEW Centre for Economic Research said that in May its index of German economic sentiment dropped by 10.4 points to 31.5 from May’s reading of 41.9 while economists had expected the index to drop by 4.8 points to 37.1 in June.

Sentiment on the euro was fragile since negotiations between Greece and European officials terminated without an agreement driving concerns about the country's future in the euro. On Monday European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said that a Greek default would be “uncharted waters,” but added that he believes policymakers have all the tools to manage the situation.

Earlier Tuesday, Greece's finance minister Yanis Varoufakis told the German Bild newspaper that he won’t present a new reform plan at Thursday’s eurogroup meeting noting that Greece remains willing to find a solution but creditors need to take Greece’s proposals seriously to end the standoff. When asked if he would present such a list, Varoufakis replied:

“No, because the Eurogroup (of euro zone finance ministers) is not the right place to present proposals which haven’t been discussed and negotiated on a lower level before.”

In the meantime, the yield on Spanish, Italian and Portuguese bonds rose higher on Tuesday on Greek concerns.

The euro was also lower against the yen and the pound, with EUR/JPY dipping to 138.58 and EUR/GBP trading at 0.7183.

Cable was higher gaining 0.10% to trade at 1.5617.

Earlier, the Office for National Statistics reported that the U.K. exited deflation in May. The annual rate of consumer inflation climbed 0.1% in May, in line with forecasts. Consumer prices were higher 0.2% from a month earlier, also matching forecasts.