Investing.com - The euro touched nine week highs against the broadly softer dollar on Thursday after data showed euro area inflation ticked higher for the first time in four months in April, adding to signs that the recovery in the region is gaining traction.
EUR/USD hit highs of 1.1249, the most since February 26 and was last at 1.1175, 0.43% higher for the day.
The European Union's statistics office Eurostat said euro area consumer prices were flat in April from a year earlier, in line with forecasts, after a 0.1% decline in March.
The zero inflation reading for last month snapped a four-month run of negative inflation readings.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, was unchanged at 0.6% year-over-year.
In a separate report Eurostat said the number of people unemployed in the euro zone fell by 36,000 in March to 18.105 million. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 11.3%, compared to expectations for a downtick to 11.2%.
The data fuelled optimism over the economic outlook, coming after the European Central Bank launched its trillion-euro stimulus program in March.
The dollar remained under pressure after data on Wednesday showing that U.S. growth slowed sharply at the start of the year added to doubts over the prospect of higher interest rates.
The U.S. economy grew just 0.2% in the three months to March, slowing from 2.2% in the final quarter of 2014. It was the slowest rate of growth in a year.
The dollar found some support after the Federal Reserve’s rate statement said that recent indications of a slowdown in growth were probably due to “transitory factors.”
However, the central bank also gave no fresh indications on the possible timing of a first rate hike.
Elsewhere, EUR/JPY hit highs of 133.71, the most since March 5 before pulling back to 132.68.