Investing.com - The euro was steady against the U.S. dollar on Friday, hovering near one-week lows as Thursday's comments by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi continued to weigh on the single currency.
EUR/USD hit 1.3832 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since May 2; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3833, easing 0.05%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3777, the low of April 30 and resistance at 1.3885, the high of May 5.
The single currency came under pressure after Mario Draghi said the ECB governing council is comfortable with acting at its next meeting, after the bank has published fresh forecasts for inflation and growth.
Speaking at the ECB’s post-policy meeting press conference, Draghi said that recent weakness in inflation has been due to food and energy prices, but added that the strong euro and weak domestic demand are also pushing down inflation.
He reiterated that the ECB does not have a target for the euro exchange rate, but said that the bank would closely monitor exchange rate developments.
Meanwhile, the dollar remained supported after the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending May 3 fell by 26,000 to 319,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 345,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 20,000 to 325,000 last week.
The euro was little changed against the pound, with EUR/GBP dipping 0.02% to 0.8172.