Investing.com - The euro moved lower against the U.S. dollar in early trade Friday, as investors looked to a meeting of European policy makers for details of a planned rescue fund to aid debt-threatened euro-zone members.
EUR/USD hit 1.3754 in early U.S. trade, the pair’s lowest since Tuesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3784, falling 0.68%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3500, Monday’s low, and resistance at 1.3937, Thursday’s high.
Speaking from a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers in Poland Friday, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said a decision on the next round of Greek aid would be made in October.
Juncker added that officials had made progress on Finland’s insistence that it be provided collateral in return for participation in a second Greek bailout.
Also attending the meeting was U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who urged finance ministers to work together with the European Central Bank to address the region’s debt crisis and embellish the power of the current rescue fund.
European markets gained on the day; in late Friday trade France’s CAC was up 0.31% to 3,055.25, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1.04% to 5,392.97 and Germany’s DAX was higher by 2.3% to 5,635.14.
Separately Friday, a University of Michigan report revealed that U.S. consumer sentiment rose more than expected to 57.8 in August, up from 55.7 in the previous month.
Economists had forecast the index to hit 56.0 last month.
Wall Street was on pace to gain for a fifth straight day, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.28% to 11,465.10, the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.29% to 2,614.72, and the S&P 500 added 0.26%. to 1,212.26.
Meanwhile, the euro was lower against the British pound and the Japanese yen, with EUR/GBP down by 0.65% to hit 0.8724, and EUR/JPY falling 0.44% to hit 105.95.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was scheduled to give a speech after the conclusion of the meeting in Wroclaw, Poland later Friday.