Investing.com - The euro dropped to a four-and-a-half year low against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as concerns over political instability in Greece continued to weigh and as markets eyed final manufacturing data from the euro zone due later in the day.
EUR/USD hit 1.2035 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since June 2014; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2046, sliding 0.49%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.1875 and resistance at 1.2095, the high of December 31.
Markets sentiment weakened as Greece formally dissolved parliament on Wednesday after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras failed earlier in the week to persuade lawmakers to back his candidate for head of state, casting the country's international bailout into doubt.
Parliamentary elections were set for January 25, almost 18 months before the current coalition's term was due to end.
Meanwhile, the dollar remained broadly supported as a recent string of upbeat U.S. data sparked optimism over the strength of the country's economic recovery and added to expectations for the Federal Reserve to soon raise interest rates.
The euro was also lower against the pound, with EUR/GBP slipping 0.21% to 0.7749.
Later in the day, research group Markit was to release final reports on manufacturing activity in Germany and in Spain, as well as for the entire euro zone.
The Institute for Supply Management was also to publish data on U.S. manufacturing activity.