Investing.com - The euro edged higher against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as sentiment on the greenback mildly weakened ahead of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later in the trading session.
EUR/USD hit 1.0950 during European afternoon trade, the pair's highest since August 4; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0932, adding 0.09%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0873, Thursday's low and resistance at 1.0989, the high of August 4.
Investors remained cautious ahead of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later Friday, which could reinforce expectations for higher interest rates by the Federal Reserve.
The dollar had found support after data on Thursday showed that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the U.S. in the week ending August 1 rose by 3,000 to 270,000 from the previous week’s total of 267,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise by 6,000 to 273,000 last week.
The euro was steady against the pound, with EUR/GBP at 0.7046.
Sterling showed little reaction to report by the Office for National Statistics on Friday showing that the U.K. trade deficit widened to £9.18 billion in June from £8.42 billion in May, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of £8.00 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to £9.30 billion in June.