Investing.com - The euro was lower against the pound on Wednesday, as investors turned jittery ahead of the upcoming European Central Bank meeting, while weak services sector and retail sales data out of the euro zone also weighed.
EUR/GBP hit 0.7892 during European morning trade, the pair’s lowest since August 24; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7902, shedding 0.20%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7876, the low of August 24 and resistance at 0.7917, the session high.
Sentiment on the single currency was hit by growing doubts over whether the ECB will announce more details of measures to help stabilize the region’s sovereign debt markets after its policy meeting on Thursday.
The euro weakened broadly after data showed that service sector activity in the euro zone contracted at a slightly faster rate than initially estimated in August, fuelling fears that the bloc is entering a technical recession.
Markit said that its revised services purchasing managers’ index ticked down to 47.2 in August from a preliminary reading of 47.5, defying expectations to remain unchanged.
Germany's services sector contracted at its fastest rate in three years, with the PMI coming in at 48.3.
Meanwhile, Eurostat said retail sales in the bloc fell 0.2% in July, in line with expectations, bringing the annualized rate of decline to 1.7%.
The pound remained supported after stronger-than-forecast service sector data for August fuelled hopes that the Bank of England would refrain from implementing further stimulus measures at its policy meeting on Thursday.
Markit said its services purchasing managers’ index rose to 53.7, the highest level since March, from a reading of 51.0 in July.
The data was inadvertently published by Reuters on Tuesday, a day ahead of schedule.
The euro was also down against the U.S. dollar and the yen, with EUR/USD slipping 0.16% to 1.2547 and EUR/JPY edging down 0.08% to 98.47.
Later Wednesday, the U.S. was to release revised data on nonfarm productivity.
EUR/GBP hit 0.7892 during European morning trade, the pair’s lowest since August 24; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7902, shedding 0.20%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7876, the low of August 24 and resistance at 0.7917, the session high.
Sentiment on the single currency was hit by growing doubts over whether the ECB will announce more details of measures to help stabilize the region’s sovereign debt markets after its policy meeting on Thursday.
The euro weakened broadly after data showed that service sector activity in the euro zone contracted at a slightly faster rate than initially estimated in August, fuelling fears that the bloc is entering a technical recession.
Markit said that its revised services purchasing managers’ index ticked down to 47.2 in August from a preliminary reading of 47.5, defying expectations to remain unchanged.
Germany's services sector contracted at its fastest rate in three years, with the PMI coming in at 48.3.
Meanwhile, Eurostat said retail sales in the bloc fell 0.2% in July, in line with expectations, bringing the annualized rate of decline to 1.7%.
The pound remained supported after stronger-than-forecast service sector data for August fuelled hopes that the Bank of England would refrain from implementing further stimulus measures at its policy meeting on Thursday.
Markit said its services purchasing managers’ index rose to 53.7, the highest level since March, from a reading of 51.0 in July.
The data was inadvertently published by Reuters on Tuesday, a day ahead of schedule.
The euro was also down against the U.S. dollar and the yen, with EUR/USD slipping 0.16% to 1.2547 and EUR/JPY edging down 0.08% to 98.47.
Later Wednesday, the U.S. was to release revised data on nonfarm productivity.