Investing.com -- EUR/USD extended losses from earlier in the week to plummet to its lowest level since late-May, as an imminent rate hike from the Federal Reserve and positive developments in the Greek Debt crisis remained in focus.
The currency pair traded between 1.0856 and 1.0947 on Thursday, before settling at 1.0878 down 0.64% on the session. The euro has now closed lower against the dollar in four of the last five sessions and has lost more than 3.5% since peaking above 1.14 in mid-June.
EUR/USD likely at 1.0818, the low from May 27 and was met with resistance at 1.1438, the high from June 18.
Hours after the Greek parliament approved four measures required to complete a comprehensive third bailout from euro zone creditors, the European Central Bank (ECB) granted the cash-strapped nation EUR 900 million on Thursday in a move that could help banks throughout the nation reopen. In addition, euro zone officials finalized an agreement to provide Greece with €7 billion in short-term bridge financing that will allow it to meet a €3.5 billion obligation to the ECB next week.
In the U.S. investors continued to digest market-moving comments from Janet Yellen on Wednesday when the head of the Federal Reserve sent strong indications that current economic conditions are likely to justify an interest rate hike at some point this year. Yellen's comments before Congress during her semi-annual Hawkins-Humphrey testimony likely signal that the Fed will raise its benchmark Federal Funds Rate during FOMC meetings in either September or December.
Yellen continues to reiterate that the Fed remains more concerned with the long-term path of interest rates over the timing of initial lift-off.
Elsewhere, the dollar edged up following the release of strong weekly employment and housing data before, paring some of its gains later in the session. Last week, initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 281,000 for the week ended July 11, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. There was less optimism, however, in the manufacturing sector. Separately, the Philadelphia Fed said its business activity index fell to 5.7 in July, down from a reading of 15.2 last month.
Yields on U.S. 10-Year Treasuries were flat at 2.356%, while yields on German 10-Year bunds gained one basis point to 0.83%.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, surged to a monthly-high at 97.91, before falling slightly back to 97.79.