Investing.com - The euro eased back from session highs against the dollar on Monday, but remained supported close to two-and-a-half year peaks as expectations for further monetary easing by the European Central Bank dimmed.
EUR/USD dipped 0.09% to 1.3869, moving off session highs of 1.3898.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3851, Friday’s low and resistance at 1.3915, Friday’s high and the strongest level since October 31, 2009.
Demand for the shared currency continued to be underpinned after the ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged late last week, saying economic conditions did not support tightening, despite the low inflation outlook for the euro area.
The euro’s gains were offset after data on Friday showed that the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in February, well above expectations for 149,000 new jobs.
The strong figure indicated that the Federal Reserve is likely to continue to scale back its stimulus program, which has weighed on the value of the dollar.
Elsewhere, the euro edged lower against the yen, with EUR/JPY dipping 0.06% to 143.18.
The safe haven yen remained supported as poor Chinese trade data and downbeat economic reports from Japan weighed on market sentiment.
Data released over the weekend showed that Chinese exports fell 18.1% on a year-over-year basis in February, confounding expectations for a 6.8% increase, following a rise of 10.6% in January.
A separate report showed that the annual rate of inflation in China slowed to 2.0% in February, from 2.5% in January.
The yen received an additional boost after data on Monday showed that Japan posted record current account deficit of ¥1.589 trillion in January and fourth quarter growth was revised down.
Japan's economy grew 0.2% in the final three months of 2013, below the preliminary estimate for growth of 0.3%. On a year-over-year basis, the economy expanded by 0.7%, compared to an initial estimate of 1.0%.
Elsewhere, USD/JPY was trading at 103.24, recovering from session lows of 102.94.