Investing.com -- EUR/USD inched up extending modest gains from the previous session, as U.S. Treasury prices surged ahead of Friday's critical national employment situation report.
The currency pair traded in a range of 1.0875 and 1.0942 before settling at 1.0922, up 0.15% on the session. The euro has been relatively flat against the dollar over the last month, down approximately 0.6% during the last 30 days of trading. Despite the modest gains, EUR/USD has still remained below 1.10 for each of the last eight sessions.
The pair likely gained support at 1.0808, the low from July 20 and was met with resistance at 1.1114, the high from July 31.
Investors await the release of Friday's job report by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics for further indications on the timing of the Federal Reserve's first interest rate hike since 2006. On Wednesday, Fed governor Jerome Powell said it is not a certainty that the Federal Open Market Committee will raise rates during its September meeting, as many investors anticipate. Powell added that he will take a data-driven approach to the decision on whether to normalize monetary policy, placing particular emphasis on the strength of the labor market.
Also on Wednesday, staffers from the research institute ADP said in its monthly national employment report that private payrolls in the U.S. rose by 185,000 in July, below forecasts of a 210,000 gain and down from an increase of 237,000 a month earlier. For the month of July, analysts are predicting a consensus increase of 212,000 non-farm jobs, below the robust gains in June when non-farm payrolls rose by 223,000. Economists also expect the unemployment rate to remain in a consensus range between 5.2 and 5.4%, after falling 0.2% to 5.3% in June.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, fell 0.10% to settle at 97.88 on Thursday afternoon. One session earlier, the index surged to an intraday high of 98.33 – its highest level since April 23.
Yields on the U.S. 10-Year, meanwhile, fell four basis points to 2.227% as Treasury prices shot up in Thursday's session. It has been more than two weeks since Treasury yields have closed above 2.3%.
In London, the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 8-1 to keep interest rates at record-lows of 0.5%, amid a muted inflation outlook. GBP/USD fell more than 0.5% to an intraday low of 1.5467, its lowest level in more than three weeks, before rallying slightly to 1.5513.
Great Britain could decide on whether it plans to leave the EU as soon as the end of next year if prime minister David Cameron is successful in moving up a public referendum, tentatively scheduled for 2017.