Investing.com - The euro remained lower against the pound on Wednesday, as concerns that a European Union summit would fail to result in new measures to tackle the crisis in the euro zone outweighed weak U.K. economic data.
EUR/GBP hit 0.8032 during European late morning trade, the pair’s lowest since May 18; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8036, slipping 0.14%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7986, the low of May 17 and resistance at 0.8056, the session high.
Sentiment on the euro was hit earlier amid fresh fears over a Greek exit from the euro area after comments from former Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos appeared to indicate that preparations for an exit scenario were being made.
Though Papademos later clarified the remarks, saying there are no preparations under way in Greece for a possible euro area exit, markets remained risk adverse.
Meanwhile, concerns over a division between France's new President Francois Hollande, who favors measures designed to support growth and pro-austerity Germany, further added to the negative tone in markets, ahead of the EU summit in Brussels later in the day.
But the euro remained supported against the pound after data from the U.K. showed that retail sales dropped at the sharpest rate since January 2010 in April, falling 2.3%, compared to expectations for a 0.8% decline.
Meanwhile, the minutes of the Bank of England’s May meeting showed that policymakers considered more monetary stimulus, amid concerns over the risk to the U.K. economic recovery arising from the euro zone crisis.
The euro was lower against the U.S. dollar and the yen, with EUR/USD down 0.33% to hit 1.2641 and EUR/JPY tumbling 0.71% to hit 79.38.
The yen found support after Bank of Japan held off on introducing any additional stimulus measures and said it was leaving its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.01%, following its policy meeting earlier Wednesday.
EUR/GBP hit 0.8032 during European late morning trade, the pair’s lowest since May 18; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8036, slipping 0.14%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7986, the low of May 17 and resistance at 0.8056, the session high.
Sentiment on the euro was hit earlier amid fresh fears over a Greek exit from the euro area after comments from former Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos appeared to indicate that preparations for an exit scenario were being made.
Though Papademos later clarified the remarks, saying there are no preparations under way in Greece for a possible euro area exit, markets remained risk adverse.
Meanwhile, concerns over a division between France's new President Francois Hollande, who favors measures designed to support growth and pro-austerity Germany, further added to the negative tone in markets, ahead of the EU summit in Brussels later in the day.
But the euro remained supported against the pound after data from the U.K. showed that retail sales dropped at the sharpest rate since January 2010 in April, falling 2.3%, compared to expectations for a 0.8% decline.
Meanwhile, the minutes of the Bank of England’s May meeting showed that policymakers considered more monetary stimulus, amid concerns over the risk to the U.K. economic recovery arising from the euro zone crisis.
The euro was lower against the U.S. dollar and the yen, with EUR/USD down 0.33% to hit 1.2641 and EUR/JPY tumbling 0.71% to hit 79.38.
The yen found support after Bank of Japan held off on introducing any additional stimulus measures and said it was leaving its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.01%, following its policy meeting earlier Wednesday.