Investing.com - The euro rose to a session high against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, following media reports concerning some details of the European Central Bank’s bond purchasing plan.
EUR/USD hit 1.2623 during U.S. morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2617, gaining 0.41%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2500, the session low and near-term resistance at 1.2636, the high of August 31and a two-month high.
The euro strengthened broadly after Bloomberg reported that the ECB is planning "unlimited, sterilized" bond buying, without setting bond yield targets. The plan is reported to be focused on government bonds with maturities of up to three years.
The ECB declined to comment on the report.
Demand for the euro has been underpinned in recent weeks by expectations that the ECB is set to announce more details of measures to help stabilize the region’s sovereign debt markets after its policy meeting on Thursday.
The single currency came under pressure earlier in the session, after a report showing that service sector activity in the euro zone contracted at a slightly faster rate than initially estimated in August added to fears that the bloc is set to enter a technical recession in the third quarter.
Markit said that its revised services purchasing managers’ index ticked down to 47.2 in August from a preliminary reading of 47.5, defying expectations to remain unchanged.
Germany's services sector contracted at its fastest rate in three years, with the PMI coming in at 48.3.
A separate report showed that retail sales in the bloc fell 0.2% in July, in line with expectations, bringing the annualized rate of decline to 1.7%.
The euro gained ground against the pound and the yen, with EUR/GBP easing up 0.13% to 0.7928 and EUR/JPY rising 0.33% to 98.88.
Elsewhere Wednesday, Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said the euro zone would be more stable in 2013 and added that the bloc would still exist in the same form as it does now.
EUR/USD hit 1.2623 during U.S. morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2617, gaining 0.41%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2500, the session low and near-term resistance at 1.2636, the high of August 31and a two-month high.
The euro strengthened broadly after Bloomberg reported that the ECB is planning "unlimited, sterilized" bond buying, without setting bond yield targets. The plan is reported to be focused on government bonds with maturities of up to three years.
The ECB declined to comment on the report.
Demand for the euro has been underpinned in recent weeks by expectations that the ECB is set to announce more details of measures to help stabilize the region’s sovereign debt markets after its policy meeting on Thursday.
The single currency came under pressure earlier in the session, after a report showing that service sector activity in the euro zone contracted at a slightly faster rate than initially estimated in August added to fears that the bloc is set to enter a technical recession in the third quarter.
Markit said that its revised services purchasing managers’ index ticked down to 47.2 in August from a preliminary reading of 47.5, defying expectations to remain unchanged.
Germany's services sector contracted at its fastest rate in three years, with the PMI coming in at 48.3.
A separate report showed that retail sales in the bloc fell 0.2% in July, in line with expectations, bringing the annualized rate of decline to 1.7%.
The euro gained ground against the pound and the yen, with EUR/GBP easing up 0.13% to 0.7928 and EUR/JPY rising 0.33% to 98.88.
Elsewhere Wednesday, Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said the euro zone would be more stable in 2013 and added that the bloc would still exist in the same form as it does now.