Investing.com - The euro pulled back from session highs against the dollar on Monday as a broad based selloff in risky assets triggered by concerns over problems in some emerging market economies bolstered safe haven demand for the dollar.
EUR/USD hit session highs of 1.3717 and was last up 0.07% to 1.3685.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3650 and resistance at 1.3738, Friday’s high and a three-week high.
The euro initially touched session highs after data released on Monday showed that German business confidence rose to the highest level in two-and-a-half years in January.
The German research institute Ifo said its business climate index rose to 110.6 in January, above forecasts for a reading of 110.0 and up from 109.5 in December, indicating that businesses in the euro zone’s largest economy had a strong start to the year.
The business expectations index, which measures attitudes toward business prospects over the next six months, improved to 108.9 from 107.4 in December, above forecasts for a reading of 108.0.
Safe haven demand for the dollar continued to be underpinned as a broad based exodus from emerging market currencies continued, amid concerns over the impact of the Federal Reserve scaling back its stimulus program and a possible slowdown in China.
Turkey’s lira spiraled to the latest in a series of record lows against the dollar, while South Africa’s rand, the Russian ruble and the Argentinian peso were trading at multi-year lows against the dollar.
Market participants were looking ahead to the outcome of the Fed’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, amid expectations for a reduction in its bond buying program to USD65 billion from the current USD75 billion.
Elsewhere, the euro was higher against the yen, with EUR/JPY rising 0.37% to 140.44, recovering from six-week lows of 139.16.
The dollar was also higher against the yen. USD/JPY was last up 0.26% to 102.60, after falling as low as 101.78 earlier, the weakest level since December 6.