Investing.com - The euro was lower against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, trading close to a two-year low as a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday offered few signs of progress in tackling the region’s debt crisis.
EUR/USD hit 1.2282 during late Asian trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2290, falling 0.17%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2254, Monday’s low and a two-year low and resistance at 1.2400, the high of July 6.
At a meeting in Brussels on Monday, euro zone ministers agreed to push Spain’s deadline to reach its deficit reduction targets back to 2014 in exchange for further budget savings and set the parameters of an aid package for Madrid's ailing banks.
The ministers made no apparent progress, however, on activating the bloc's rescue funds to intervene in bond markets and bring down Spain and Italy’s spiraling borrowing costs.
Spain’s 10-year government bonds were hovering at 7.03% earlier Tuesday, while Italy’s 10-year bonds were at 6.10%, both above the 6% threshold which is widely seen as unsustainable.
Meanwhile, concerns over the outlook for global economic growth persisted after data showed that China's imports in June grew at half the expected pace, underscoring that the country’s economy and domestic demand are cooling quickly, even though export growth was slightly better than expected.
Elsewhere, the euro was fractionally lower against the pound with EUR/GBP inching down 0.08%, to hit 0.7925.
Later in the day, France and Italy were to produce official data on industrial production.
Euro zone finance ministers were to hold a second day of talks in Brussels.
EUR/USD hit 1.2282 during late Asian trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2290, falling 0.17%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2254, Monday’s low and a two-year low and resistance at 1.2400, the high of July 6.
At a meeting in Brussels on Monday, euro zone ministers agreed to push Spain’s deadline to reach its deficit reduction targets back to 2014 in exchange for further budget savings and set the parameters of an aid package for Madrid's ailing banks.
The ministers made no apparent progress, however, on activating the bloc's rescue funds to intervene in bond markets and bring down Spain and Italy’s spiraling borrowing costs.
Spain’s 10-year government bonds were hovering at 7.03% earlier Tuesday, while Italy’s 10-year bonds were at 6.10%, both above the 6% threshold which is widely seen as unsustainable.
Meanwhile, concerns over the outlook for global economic growth persisted after data showed that China's imports in June grew at half the expected pace, underscoring that the country’s economy and domestic demand are cooling quickly, even though export growth was slightly better than expected.
Elsewhere, the euro was fractionally lower against the pound with EUR/GBP inching down 0.08%, to hit 0.7925.
Later in the day, France and Italy were to produce official data on industrial production.
Euro zone finance ministers were to hold a second day of talks in Brussels.