EUR/USD advanced, Bernanke testimony eyed

The euro pushed higher versus the US dollar on Tuesday, as market players began focusing on the testimony to Congress by Ben Bernanke on Wednesday.

EUR/USD reached a session high at 1.3094 at 6:03 GMT, after which consolidation followed at 1.3080. Support was expected at July 12th low, 1.2998, while resistance was to be encountered at June 25th high, 1.3150.

Investors awaited the testimony on monetary policy by Ben Bernanke, scheduled on Wednesday, amid renewed speculation over the timing of FEDs Quantitative Easing scale back. Last week the greenback collapsed against the other major currencies, following the statement by FED Chairman Bernanke, who said that economy was still in need of monetary stimulus.

On Monday the Department of Commerce said that retail sales in the United States rose by 0.4% to 422.79 billion USD in June, below the expected 0.7% increase, while during May sales were revised down to a 0.5% rise from 0.6% previously. This data strengthened concerns of a possible slow down in economys momentum. In addition, another report stated that the Empire State manufacturing index in the United States rose to a five-month high of 9.46 during July from 7.84 in June. Economists had projected a reading of 5.00.

Elsewhere, the euro was trading steadily against the British pound, as EUR/GBP was 0.01% higher for the day at 0.8654 at 7:07 GMT. On the other hand, the euro advanced against the Japanese yen, with EUR/JPY cross trading at 130.68 at 7:08 GMT, up by 0.17%.

Later in the day, the ZEW institute will release reports on economic sentiment and current situation in Germany and the Euro zone as a whole. At the same time, another report will show the performance of the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) in the euro region, while the United States will release data, regarding consumer price inflation and industrial production.