Investing.com - The euro backed off two-week highs against the dollar on Thursday amid fresh concerns over Greece’s deadlocked debt negotiations after Athens rejected proposals put forward by its creditors.
EUR/USD was down 0.24% to 1.1245 from Wednesday’s highs of 1.1284. The euro ended that session up 1.08%.
The euro gained ground on Wednesday after the European Central Bank revised up its inflation forecast for this year, after the latest inflation data showed that euro zone consumer prices rose for the first time in six months in May.
ECB President Mario Draghi also said the bank saw no reason add more monetary stimulus following the recent rally in European bond yields.
But worries over the prospects of a Greek default continued to cloud the outlook for the single currency.
Talks between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels late Wednesday ended without an agreement needed to unlock more financial aid before the country runs out of money.
However the two sides were said to be close to a deal and were expected to hold further talks on Friday.
Greece is due to make a €305 million payment to the International Monetary Fund on Friday and its bailout program is set to expire later this month.
The euro pulled back from five-month peaks against the yen, with EUR/JPY down 0.31% to 139.63, off overnight highs of 140.34.
The dollar was steady against the yen, with USD/JPY at 124.31, not far from Tuesday’s 12-and-a-half year peaks of 125.05.
Data on Wednesday showed that the U.S. private sector added 201,000 jobs last month, slightly ahead of expectations for 200,000 indicating that the recovery in the labor market is on track.
Investors were looking ahead to Friday’s government jobs report for further indications of the strength of the recovery.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.24% to 95.58, off overnight lows of 95.23.