Investing.com - The euro was almost unchanged against the U.S. dollar on Friday, hovering within close distance of a nine-month low as Thursday's economic growth data from the euro area continued to weigh and markets eyed a string of U.S. data to be released later in the day.
EUR/USD hit 1.3359 during late Asian trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3364, dipping 0.01%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3336, the low of August 12 and resistance at 1.3415, the high of August 13.
The single currency remained under pressure after preliminary data on Thursday showed the euro zone economy failed to grow in the three months to June.
Germany’s economy shrank by 0.2% in the three month to June, the first drop since 2012, while French gross domestic product was flat, the second consecutive quarter of stagnation.
The weak data indicated that the economic recovery in the euro area is losing momentum, adding to pressure on the European Central Bank to do more to shore up growth after it cut rates to record lows in June.
The dollar had weakened on Thursday after a report by the U.S. Labor Department showed that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 9 increased by 21,000 to 311,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 290,000.
The euro was steady against the pound, with EUR/GBP easing 0.04% to 0.8007.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release reports on manufacturing activity in New York state and industrial output, as well as preliminary data on consumer sentiment.