Investing.com - The euro came off the session low against the U.S. dollar in choppy trade on Wednesday, but the single currency remained under pressure amid nervousness ahead of the upcoming European Central Bank meeting on Thursday.
EUR/USD pulled away from 1.2500, the pair’s lowest since August 3, to hit 1.2554 during European afternoon trade, 0.09% lower on the day.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2362, the low of July 4 and near-term resistance at 1.2567, the session high.
Investors remained jittery amid growing doubts over whether the ECB will announce more details of measures to help stabilize the region’s sovereign debt markets after its policy meeting on Thursday.
Meanwhile, 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 was lower against the pound and the yen, with EUR/GBP down 0.25% to 0.7898 and EUR/JPY sliding 0.18% to 98.38.
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 pulled away from 1.2500, the pair’s lowest since August 3, to hit 1.2554 during European afternoon trade, 0.09% lower on the day.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2362, the low of July 4 and near-term resistance at 1.2567, the session high.
Investors remained jittery amid growing doubts over whether the ECB will announce more details of measures to help stabilize the region’s sovereign debt markets after its policy meeting on Thursday.
Meanwhile, 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 was lower against the pound and the yen, with EUR/GBP down 0.25% to 0.7898 and EUR/JPY sliding 0.18% to 98.38.
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.