Investing.com - The euro held steady against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, as investors awaited the release of U.S. jobless claims and retail sales and the greenback recovered from recent losses due to concerns over political instability in Greece and new restrictions on China’s debt markets.
EUR/USD hit session highs of 1.2495 during European afternoon trade, before consolidating at 1.2454.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2360, Wednesday's low and resistance at 1.2524, the high of November 27.
The dollar was hit earlier in the week by a surprise decision by the Greek government to bring forward a parliamentary vote for president to next week from February.
The move raised the prospect of snap elections if Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ candidate is not approved by parliament, which could see the anti-bailout Syriza party take power.
Markets were also jittery after a Chinese government decision on Tuesday to set new restrictions on collateral for short-term loans. The move fuelled fears that the world’s second-largest economy is slowing at a faster rate than anticipated.
But demand for the greenback remained supported after last week’s strong U.S. jobs report for November prompted investors to bring forward expectations for the first hike in interest rates to mid-2015 from September 2015 ahead of the data.
Investors were looking ahead to next week’s policy statement from the Fed amid speculation that policymakers could drop an assurance that interest rates will stay low for a "considerable time".
The euro was higher against the pound, with EUR/GBP adding 0.21% to 0.7937.