Euro higher vs pound and dollar; Greenback under pressure after weak US data

On Thursday the euro remained higher against the U.S. dollar, as downbeat U.S. jobless claims and new home sales data undermined demand for the U.S. currency.

EUR/USD touched 1.0782 during U.S. morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0759, rising 0.34%. The pair was likely to find support 1.0622, the low of April 16 and resistance at 1.0888, the high of April 8.

The dollar came under pressure after the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 18 increased by 1,000 to 295,000 from the previous week’s total of 294,000 while economists had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 4,000 to 290,000 last week.

Data indicated that U.S. new home sales dropped 11.4% last month to 481,000 units after a revised 5.6% increase to 541,000 in February. Analysts had expected new home sales to fall 5.3% to 513,000 units in March.

On Wednesday the U.S. National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales rose 6.1% last month to 5.19 million units, compared to expectations for a 3.0% rise.

The euro was hardly impacted by a report issued today by market research group Markit saying that the euro zone's composite purchasing managers' index, which includes manufacturing and services activity, fell to 53.5 this month from 54.0 in March, compared to expectations for a rise to 54.4.

Germany's manufacturing PMI ticked down to 54.2 this month from a reading of 55.4 in March, while the services PMI slipped to 54.4 in April from 55.4 the previous month while France's manufacturing PMI fell to 48.4 this month from 48.8 in March, while the services PMI slipped to 50.8 in April from a reading of 52.4 the previous month.

Another report showed that Spain's unemployment rate rose to 23.8% in the first quarter from 23.7% in the three months to December. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to slip to 23.6% in the last quarter.

The euro was higher against the pound, with EUR/GBP gaining 0.50% to 0.7170.

In the U.K., data earlier showed that U.K. retail sales fell 0.5% last month, compared to expectations for a 0.4% rise. Year-on-year, U.K. retail sales rose 4.2% in March, disappointing expectations for a 5.4% gain. Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles and fuel, ticked up 0.2% last month, less than the expected 0.4% increase.