Investing.com - The euro remained near three-month lows against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as the release of upbeat U.S. new home sales data lent further support to the greenback, while a weak German report published earlier in the day continued to weigh on the single currency.
EUR/USD hit 1.3616 during U.S. morning trade, the pair's lowest since February 13; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3631, shedding 0.18%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3585, the low of February 13 and resistance at 1.3687, Thursday's high.
The Census Bureau said U.S. new home sales rose 6.4% to 433,000 units in April, from 407,000 units in March, whose figure was revised up from a previously estimated 384,000. Analysts had expected new home sales to rise to 425,000 units last month.
The data fuelled further optimism over the recovery of the U.S. housing market after the National Association of Realtors on Thursday said existing home sales increased 1.3% in April to an annual rate of 4.65 million units.
Meanwhile, the euro remained under pressure after the Ifo Institute for Economic Research earlier said its index for German business climate ticked down to a five-month low of 110.4 in May, from a reading of 111.2 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to fall to 110.9.
The report came a day after data showed that manufacturing activity in the euro zone expanded at the slowest rate in six months in May, although the region’s service sector expanded at the fastest rate in almost three years.
The euro was lower against the pound, with EUR/GBP slipping 0.13% to 1.0881.