Euro Strengthens Against Pound, Down Against Rest Of Majors Early Friday, Friday, July 27, 2007 6:08:58 AM

The euro remained strong against the sterling but weakened against the rest of majors during the early deals on Friday. However, of late, most of today`s losses against the Swiss franc have been reversed, and the pair is now trading at a level a little above its Thursday`s New York session close.

By virtue of early Friday`s deals, the common currency has confirmed the upward momentum it gained against the sterling yesterday, pulling the pair off a 5-month low and placing it at a 4-day high. At the same time, the European currency continued its downward journey against the yen started on Monday and gave back the advancements it gained vis-а-vis the greenback yesterday.

Deals in the Euro-pairs took place amid the release of the German GfK consumer confidence data at 2:10 am ET. Investors are now waiting for the Swiss KOF leading indicators, which has been slated for release at 5:30 am, followed by the US gross domestic product data later in New York morning.

The GfK`s consumer climate indicator is forecasting 8.7 points for August, slightly up from the market consensus of 8.6 points. The July reading was revised up to 8.5 from 8.4 earlier.

The euro fell heavily against the US dollar in early European deals on Friday, giving back the gains it posted yesterday. Falling from its Asian range of 1.3735-1.3750, the pair hit as low as 1.3658 by about 4:45 am ET, which set a 10-day low for the common currency. Since then, the pair has been holding steady.

Against the yen, the euro slipped in late New York trading on Thursday extending its intra-day losses and hit a new multi-week low of 162.21 by about 5:30 pm ET. The pair remained higher in the Japanese deals on Friday, but these gains were given back during the European deals. Of late, the pair has been seeing uncertainty in direction, yet a little below its previous day`s close of 163.12. The pair has been now trading near 162.85, compared to an Asian high of 163.92.

The euro improved against the sterling in the early deals on Friday. The pair moved sideways a little above its previous day`s New York session close through the early Asian deals but staged a spike towards the end of the session. However, after hitting a 4-day high of 0.6731 by about 2:40 am, the single currency has dropped some of the gains and is now trading near 0.6710. Gains collected by the euro on Friday continued its uptrend it started against the sterling the previous day, lifting it from a 5-month low.

Reversing yesterday`s trend, the euro moved up against the franc in early Asian deals on Friday. But the common currency failed to sustain the momentum as it fell in the European deals and moved deeper than its Thursday`s low. The pair thus hit a 3-week low of 1.6509 by about 3:00 am ET but has bounced back to its Asian high lately. As of now, the euro has been trading near 1.655 francs. The Swiss KOF leading indicator data, which was released at 5:30 am, has not moved the pair visibly.

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