Investing.com - The euro pared gains against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, after data showed that the euro zone's economy expanded at a slower rate than expected in the first quarter and that the bloc's industrial production fell unexpectedly in March.
EUR/USD pulled away from 1.1265, the session high, to hit 1.1212 during European late morning trade, steady for the day.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.1130, the low of May 11 and resistance at 1.1392, the high of May 7 and a more than two-month high.
The European statistics agency Eurostat reported that euro area gross domestic product grew 0.4% in the first three months of the year, up from 0.3% in the final quarter of 2014 but slightly below forecasts for growth of 0.5%.
On a year-over-year basis, the bloc's GDP grew 1.0% after a 0.9% expansion in the three months to December. Economists had forecast growth of 1.1%.
The French economy grew 0.6% in the first quarter, the fastest rate of growth in two years.
Germany’s economy, the euro area's largest, grew 0.3% in the first quarter, slowing from 0.7% in the previous quarter.
Data also showed that the euro zone's industrial production slipped 0.3% in March, confounding expectations for a 0.2% rise. February's figure was revised to a 1.0% gain from a previously estimated increase of 1.1%.
The single currency had strengthened earlier, supported by Tuesday's fresh selloff in global bond markets. German 10-year bund yields surged, narrowing the gap with their U.S. counterparts.
German bund yields act as benchmarks for European financial markets and higher yields push the euro higher against the dollar. Yields rise as prices fall.
Meanwhile, the dollar remained under broad selling pressure ahead of U.S. data on retail sales later in the day, after recent economic reports pointed to weakness in first quarter growth.
The euro was lower against the pound, with EUR/GBP sliding 0.38% to 0.7126.
In the U.K., the Office for National Statistics earlier reported that the unemployment rate ticked down to 5.5% last month from 5.6% in March, hitting the lowest level since September 2008, in line with expectations.
The report also showed that the U.K. claimant count change dropped by 12,600 in April, confounding expectations for a 20,000 decline. March's figure was revised to a 16,700 fall from a previously estimated drop of 20,700.