Investing.com - The euro rose to a two-month high against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as market sentiment improved after the European Central Bank unveilded a long-awaited bond-buying program designed to lower borrowing costs for indebted euro zone countries.
EUR/USD hit 1.2647 during European morning trade, the pair's highest since June 29; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2646, adding 0.11%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2562, Thursday's low and resistance at 1.2748, the high of June 17.
On Thursday, ECB President Mario Draghi unveiled a new bond purchasing program, dubbed Outright Monetary Transactions, which he said will provide "a fully effective backstop" against market volatility.
Speaking at the bank’s post-policy meeting press conference, Draghi said "strict and effective conditionality” was an essential element of the plan.
Under the terms of the plan, the ECB would buy unlimited amounts of government bonds of up to three years in maturity, as long as the country in question is signed up to the OMT program and agrees to economic reforms.
The bank also maintained the benchmark interest rate at a record-low 0.75% at its policy meeting earlier in the day, in line with expectations.
Meanwhile, investors were eyeing the release of a key U.S. employment report later in the day, after upbeat data painted a rather bright picture of the sector on Thursday, dampening expectations for fresh easing measures by the Federal Reserve in the near future.
The euro was fractionally higher against the pound with EUR/GBP edging up 0.09%, to hit 0.7937.
Later in the day, Germany was to publish official data on industrial production, while the U.S. was to release a report on non-farm payrolls and the unemployment rate.
EUR/USD hit 1.2647 during European morning trade, the pair's highest since June 29; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2646, adding 0.11%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2562, Thursday's low and resistance at 1.2748, the high of June 17.
On Thursday, ECB President Mario Draghi unveiled a new bond purchasing program, dubbed Outright Monetary Transactions, which he said will provide "a fully effective backstop" against market volatility.
Speaking at the bank’s post-policy meeting press conference, Draghi said "strict and effective conditionality” was an essential element of the plan.
Under the terms of the plan, the ECB would buy unlimited amounts of government bonds of up to three years in maturity, as long as the country in question is signed up to the OMT program and agrees to economic reforms.
The bank also maintained the benchmark interest rate at a record-low 0.75% at its policy meeting earlier in the day, in line with expectations.
Meanwhile, investors were eyeing the release of a key U.S. employment report later in the day, after upbeat data painted a rather bright picture of the sector on Thursday, dampening expectations for fresh easing measures by the Federal Reserve in the near future.
The euro was fractionally higher against the pound with EUR/GBP edging up 0.09%, to hit 0.7937.
Later in the day, Germany was to publish official data on industrial production, while the U.S. was to release a report on non-farm payrolls and the unemployment rate.