Investing.com - The euro eased lower against the U.S. dollar Tuesday, as meeting of euro zone finance ministers to discuss a delayed bailout payment for Greece got underway.
EUR/USD hit 1.2765 during U.S. morning trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2800, dipping 0.11%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2689, Friday’s low and resistance at 1.2875, the high of November 7.
The euro remained supported as euro zone finance ministers gathered in Brussels to discuss whether they can release Greece’s next tranche of bailout funds.
Last week, European leaders granted Greece an additional two years to cut its budget deficit, which resulted in a disagreement with the International Monetary Fund, as it will add to the country’s debt burden.
The euro briefly touched session lows against the greenback earlier after ratings agency Moody’s downgraded France by one notch to Aa1 from Aaa with a negative outlook overnight, citing a deteriorating growth outlook for the euro zone’s second-largest economy.
The announcement did not come as a surprise to markets after Standard & Poor’s cut France’s rating in January.
Elsewhere in the euro zone, Spain successfully auctioned EUR5 billion of short term government bonds at lower borrowing costs Tuesday, easing pressure on the country to request a bailout.
The euro was slightly lower against the pound, with EUR/GBP inching down 0.07% to 0.8048, but pushed higher against the broadly weaker yen, with EUR/JPY up 0.30% to 104.62.
In the U.S., official data showed that housing starts rose 3.6% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.894 million, the fastest rate of increase in four years.
The number of building permits issued last month fell 2.7% to a seasonally adjusted 0.866 million.
Later Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was to speak at an event in New York.