While concerns over Portugal's banking sector, as well as Thursday's economic reports from EEA countries continued to weigh, the euro was almost unchanged against the U.S. dollar on Friday.
The data on Thursday showed that
industrial output in France, Italy and Holland declined in May and added to
concerns over the outlook for the euro zone economy.
Besides that, market sentiment was hit by growing fears over financial troubles at the family-owned holding companies behind Espirito Santo Financial Group, Portugal's largest listed bank.
Markets seemed to shrug off a report by the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday, saying that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 5 declined by 11,000 to a 304,000 from the previous week’s total of 315,000. This put the euro under pressure.
Despite the concerns, the euro was steady against the pound, with EUR/GBP easing 0.05% to 0.7939. EUR/USD hit 1.3596 during late Asian trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3602, dipping 0.04%. The pair was likely to find support at 1.3576, the low of June 26 and resistance at 1.3651.
