Investing.com - The euro held steady against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, after disappointing U.S. home sales data, as investors remained cautious ahead of a speech by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi later in the day.
EUR/USD hit 1.3267 during U.S. morning trade, the pair's lowest since January 16; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3309, dipping 0.02%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3249, the low of January 11 and resistance at 1.3372, the session high.
Industry data showed that U.S. existing home sales fell to 4.94 million in December from 4.99 million the previous month, disappointing expectations for a rise to 5.10 million.
Meanwhile, investors were cautious as euro zone ministers were still seeking an agreement on how and when the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Stability Mecanism, can bypass governments and provide direct help to banks.
Separetly, investor confidence was hit by speculation some large German banks could be asked to split their investment banking operations.
Sentiment on the euro remained supported however, after Olli Rehn said that EU finance ministers and the Commission are confident Ireland and Portugal will be able to return to full market financing after their bailouts and will work in the coming months to facilitate that.
Earlier Tuesday, the ZEW Centre for Economic Research said that its index of German economic sentiment improved to 31.5 in January from a reading of 6.9 the previous month, blowing past expectations for a rise to 12.0.
A separate report showed that the ZEW index of euro zone economic sentiment jumped to 31.2 this month from 7.6 in December, compared with expectations for a reading of 14.0.
The euro was lower against the pound with EUR/GBP slipping 0.21%, to hit 0.8392.
Also Tuesday, industry data showed that the index of indutrial order expectations in the U.K. dropped to minus 20 in January from a reading of minus 12 the previous month, disappointing expectations for an improvement to minus 11.
The report came after official data showed that public sector net borrowing in the U.K. declined less-than-expected in December, slipping to GBP13.2 billion from GBP14.3 billion the previous month.