Investing.com -- EUR/USD posted modest gains on Monday to remain above 1.10, amid a wave of mixed manufacturing data around the globe.
The currency pair traded in a tight range between 1.1001 and 1.1053 before settling at 1.1013, up 0.0009 or 0.08% on the day. The euro closed above 1.10 against the dollar for the third consecutive. Last week, the pair fell below 1.09 to fresh two-month lows following hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve on the increasing likelihood of an interest rate hike before the end of the year. Over the last month of trading, the pair has fallen in value by approximately 1.5%.
EUR/USD likely gained support at 1.0894, the low from October 28 and was met with resistance at 1.1489, the high from Oct. 14.
On Monday morning, research firm Markit reported that its U.S. manufacturing purchasing managers' index in October ticked up 0.1 from its preliminary reading to 54.1, gaining a full point from its level in September. At 54.1, the index surged to its highest level since May. Analysts on the whole expected the index to fall within a consensus range of 53.0 to 54.5 in October.
In Europe, overall export levels surged in October to a four-month high while total order growth across the euro zone rose to its highest level since April, 2014. While manufacturing growth in France accelerated at a modest pace last month, factory activity growth in Germany slowed as its manufacturing PMI fell by 0.2 to 52.1. Manufacturing activity, though, accelerated in Italy, Netherland and Austria, where it reached a 20-month high at 53.0.
Meanwhile, in Greece a trio of prominent banks – Piraeus Bank, Alpha Bank and Eurobank – all gained more than 10% on Monday after official stress tests indicated that the Greek banks needs less capital than previously expected. On Saturday, the European Central Bank announced that Greece might need more than €14 billion to account for a spike in bad debts over the last year.
Yields on the U.S. 10-Year surged more than five basis points to an intraday high of 2.189, before closing Monday's session at 2.176. At one point, yields on 10-year government bonds jumped to their highest level since mid-September.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, fell more than 0.10% to an intraday low of 96.71 before rallying to close at 96.97, up 0.10% on the day. Last month, the dollar index surged to a 10-week high at 97.89, following the Fed's hawkish October monetary policy statement.