Investing.com - The euro pushed higher against the pound on Monday, finding support ahead of a meeting of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy but gains looked likely to remain limited.
EUR/GBP hit 0.8277 during European morning trade, the pair’s highest since last Thursday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8270, gaining 0.29%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8281, the session low and a 16-month low and resistance at 0.8347, last Wednesday’s high.
The euro found support after data showed that German exports jumped 2.5% in November; unexpectedly increasing the trade surplus and easing concerns over a slowdown in the euro zone’s largest economy.
A separate report showed that investor confidence in the euro zone improved more-than-expected this month, but remained in negative territory for the sixth consecutive month.
Market sentiment was also help by Friday’s better-than-expected U.S. employment data.
But the euro remained vulnerable to further losses amid concerns over the ability of troubled euro zone nations to fulfill their sovereign funding needs, as markets looked ahead to government debt auctions by Spain and Italy later in the week.
Earlier in the day, the yield on 10-year Italian government bonds climbed to 7.16%, above the 7% threshold seen as unsustainable, while the yield on Spanish 10-year bonds was at 5.72%.
The euro also advanced against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD gaining 0.45% to hit 1.2776.
Later Monday, French and German leaders were to meet to discuss proposals to increase fiscal coordination in the single currency bloc.