Investing.com - The euro firmed up against the U.S. dollar on Monday, regaining some of the ground lost after weekend election results in Greece and France sparked fresh fears over attempts to contain the debt crisis in Europe.
EUR/USD pulled away from 1.2956, the pair’s lowest since January 25, to hit 1.3032 during European early afternoon trade, still down 0.39% on the day.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2956, the session low and a three-month low and short-term resistance at 1.3044, the session high.
The euro found some support after official data showed that German factory orders rose by a seasonally adjusted 2.2% in March, easily surpassing expectations for a 0.5% increase.
But investors remained jittery after weekend election results in Greece threw the future of the country’s international bailout agreement into doubt and fuelled fears over a possible Greek exit from the euro zone.
Neither of the country’s two pro-bailout parties secured enough votes to form a government, as voters favored smaller parties who campaigned against harsh austerity measures.
Earlier Monday, the head of the euro zone’s temporary bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, said a Greek exit from the euro zone would be a “catastrophe” for the country.
Meanwhile, in France, President Nicolas Sarkozy was defeated by socialist candidate François Hollande, who has said he wants to renegotiate the euro zone fiscal pact in order to stimulate growth in the region.
The euro was hovering just above a three-and-a-half year low against the pound, with EUR/GBP down 0.48% to hit 0.8062 and was trading close to a two-and-a-half month low against the yen, with EUR/JPY shedding 0.44% to hit 104.01.
Trading volumes were expected to remain light on Monday as markets in the U.K. were closed for a bank holiday.
EUR/USD pulled away from 1.2956, the pair’s lowest since January 25, to hit 1.3032 during European early afternoon trade, still down 0.39% on the day.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2956, the session low and a three-month low and short-term resistance at 1.3044, the session high.
The euro found some support after official data showed that German factory orders rose by a seasonally adjusted 2.2% in March, easily surpassing expectations for a 0.5% increase.
But investors remained jittery after weekend election results in Greece threw the future of the country’s international bailout agreement into doubt and fuelled fears over a possible Greek exit from the euro zone.
Neither of the country’s two pro-bailout parties secured enough votes to form a government, as voters favored smaller parties who campaigned against harsh austerity measures.
Earlier Monday, the head of the euro zone’s temporary bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, said a Greek exit from the euro zone would be a “catastrophe” for the country.
Meanwhile, in France, President Nicolas Sarkozy was defeated by socialist candidate François Hollande, who has said he wants to renegotiate the euro zone fiscal pact in order to stimulate growth in the region.
The euro was hovering just above a three-and-a-half year low against the pound, with EUR/GBP down 0.48% to hit 0.8062 and was trading close to a two-and-a-half month low against the yen, with EUR/JPY shedding 0.44% to hit 104.01.
Trading volumes were expected to remain light on Monday as markets in the U.K. were closed for a bank holiday.