EUR/USD erased earlier gains

The euro slid to negative territory against the US dollar on Wednesday, falling from six-month highs, as investors focused on the minutes of Fed’s most recent meeting on monetary policy later in the day.

EUR/USD fell to its lowest point today at 1.3373 at 13:32 GMT, after which consolidation followed at 1.3383. Support for the pair was likely to be received at August 20th low, 1.3322, while resistance was to be met at August 20th high and a six-month high, 1.3451.

Later on trading Wednesday the Federal Reserve Bank is expected to release the minutes of its meeting on July 30-31st, as it may provide clues whether a reduction of scale of stimulus was on the horizon. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will conduct its next meeting on September 17-18th and will probably consider a pare back of its easing program at that meeting, according to 65% of economists, participated in a survey by Bloomberg News on August 9-13th.

EUR/USD cross demonstrated a slight reaction to the report by the National Association of Realtors, which said that existing home sales in the United States rose to their highest level in four years in the month of July, which probably reflected the increased activity in the housing sector, as buyers were more anxious to finalize their deals before mortgage rates climbed. Sales increased by 6.5% in July to an annual 5.39 million units, compared to the preceding month, marking the best result since November 2009. Analysts had projected that existing home sales will rise to an annual 5.15 million units. However, there were indications that rising mortgage rates, higher costs of materials, the lack of qualified staff and the lack of construction ground for new homes may obstruct US housing market. Construction starts of new single-family houses in the country showed the weakest results in eight months in July.

Elsewhere, the euro was losing positions against the British pound, as EUR/GBP cross dropped 0.36% to trade at 0.8535 at 14:37 GMT. On the other hand, EUR/JPY pair advanced 0.12% for the day, trading at 130.68 at 14:38 GMT.