EUR/USD with little reaction to less optimistic US data

The euro showed little reaction against the US dollar, following the recent series of economic reports, released from the United States, as data implied that US recovery was probably not strong enough in order the Federal Reserve Bank to begin scaling back its asset purchases.

EUR/USD hit a session high at 1.3379 at 13:26 GMT, the highest point since August 9th, after which the pair consolidated at 1.3350. Support was likely to be found at August 12th low, 1.3278, while resistance was to be met at August 9th high, 1.3391.

On Friday it became clear that the preliminary value of the index of consumer confidence, tracked by the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters, came in at 80.0 in the month of August, down from 85.1 in July, marking its lowest reading since April. Experts had anticipated that the index will show improvement to a value of 85.3.

This data came after earlier in the day, it was reported that housing starts in the United States rose by 5.9% in July to 0.896 million houses on a monthly basis, as in June the indicator showed a 0.846 million houses. Preliminary estimates pointed an increase to 0.900 million units. Construction of multi-family houses, including apartments, rose by 26% in July, but on the other hand, construction of single-family houses decreased by 2.2%.

Additionally, US building permits rose by 2.7% to 0.943 million units in July, slightly below the projected number of 0.945 million units. In June the number of permits was revised up to 0.918 million units from 0.911 million units previously.

Last but not least, the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the United States said in a preliminary report that non-farm productivity increased by 0.9% during the second quarter of the year, outpacing expectations of a 0.6% climb, following a 1.7% drop during the preceding quarter.

Elsewhere, the euro was trading almost without change against the sterling, as EUR/GBP cross ticked down a mere 0.01% to 0.8535 at 14:50 GMT. On the other hand, EUR/JPY pair was gaining 0.13% on a daily basis to trade at 130.15 at 14:52 GMT.