Investing.com - The euro moved slightly lower against the U.S. dollar in Asian trade Friday, after jumping to a seven-week high as European leaders announced agreement on a package of measures aimed at extinguishing the euro-zone’s debt crisis.
EUR/USD hit 1.4169 in early Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since Thursday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.4174, falling 0.11%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3657, last Thursday’s low, and resistance at 1.4378, the high of September 1.
In early Thursday trade, EUR/USD hit 1.4246 following the news from Europe, the pair’s highest level since September 6.
Following a second summit in four days, European leaders presented their long-awaited plan to address regional debt threats with an expansion of their rescue fund, and an agreement from private investors to take a 50% write-down in their holdings of Greek government debt.
Officials agreed to expand the European Financial Stability Facility to USD1.4 trillion by persuading bondholders to accrue losses on Greek debt as well a recapitalization of European banks. The deal includes the possibility of an enhanced role for the International Monetary Fund to strengthen the bailout fund.
As part of the proposal, Greece would reduce its public debt to 120% of gross domestic product by 2020, in return for a new USD140 billion tranche of financial assistance from the European Union and the IMF.
“The world’s attention was on these talks. We Europeans showed tonight that we reached the right conclusions,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the conclusion of the summit in Brussels.
Later Thursday, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that gross domestic product expanded by 2.5% in the third quarter, slightly above an anticipated 2.4% gain and the fastest pace since the third quarter of last year.
All of the positive news was not lost on Wall Street, which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average rally to its highest close since July 28, and the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 end the session at their highest levels since August 1.
By the end of Thursday trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.86% to 12,208.50, the Nasdaq Composite Index surged 3.32% to 2,738.63, and the S&P 500 leapt 3.43% to close at 1,284.59.
Led by bank and financial issues, European stocks raced to their highest finish in 12 weeks, with France’s CAC skyrocketing 6.28% to 3,368.62, Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 2.89% to 5,713.82, while Germany’s DAX jumped 5.35% to 6,337.84.
Meanwhile, the euro was lower against both the British pound and the Japanese yen, with EUR/GBP down 0.04% to hit 0.8810, and EUR/JPY lower by 0.12% to hit 107.61.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis was scheduled to release its latest monthly report on consumer spending later Friday.