Investing.com - The euro was little changed against the dollar on Tuesday, despite data showing German economic sentiment rose to its highest level in nearly a year this month, as expectations for easing by the European Central Bank as soon as this week continued to weigh.
The closely watched ZEW index of German economic sentiment rose for a third month to 48.4 in January from 34.9 in December, ahead of forecasts of 40.0.
The report boosted hopes that Germany’s economy, the euro zone’s largest would rebound in 2015 after weakening at the end of last year.
The ZEW survey of euro zone economic sentiment increased to a six-month high of 45.2 from 31.8 in December, beating forecasts of 37.6.
EUR/USD was steady at 1.1610 following the release of the data, holding above last Friday’s 11-year trough of 1.1459.
The euro remained under pressure as investors waited to see if the ECB would embark on an outright quantitative easing program at its upcoming meeting on Thursday.
The single currency has been pressured lower by mounting expectations that the ECB will launch a government bond-buying program, in a bid to stave off the threat of deflation in the euro area.
Uncertainty over the outcome of Greek elections, due to be held on Sunday, with anti-bailout party Syriza leading in the polls also weighed.
The euro was higher against the softer yen, with EUR/JPY advancing 0.79% to 137.52.
The safe-haven yen slid lower earlier Tuesday after figures showing that economic growth in China remained steady in the fourth quarter.
China’s economy expanded at an annual rate of 7.3% in the three months to December. Economists had expected growth in the world’s second-largest economy to slow to 7.2% from 7.3% in the third quarter.
On a quarter-over-quarter basis, China’s economy slowed to 1.5% from 1.9% in the third quarter, compared to forecasts for 1.7%.
In other trade, USD/JPY was up 0.72% to a one-week high of 118.40.