Investing.com - The euro erased gains against the U.S. dollar on Friday, to return near eight-month lows as markets seemed to shrug off the release of relatively tepid U.S. employment data, while earlier euro zone reports continued to weigh.
EUR/USD pulled away from 1.3434, the session high, to hit 1.3390 during European afternoon trade, down 0.01%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3367, the low of July 30 and an eight-month low and resistance at 1.3444, the high of July 29.
The Labor Department said the U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs last mont, disappointing expectations for an increase of 233,000. The number of jobs added in June was revised up to a 298,000 gain from a previously estimated rise of 288,000.
The report also showed that the U.S. unemployment rate ticked up to 6.2% last month, from 6.1% in June. Analysts had expected the rate to remain unchanged in July.
The data came a day after the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits increased by 23,000 last week to 302,000 from the previous week’s total of 279,000, which was the lowest in 14 years.
Meanwhile, the euro remained under pressure after official data on Thursday showed that the annual rate of inflation in the euro area slowed to a five year low of 0.4% in July from 0.5% in June.
The data added to pressure on the European Central Bank to implement further stimulus measures to shore up growth and stave off the threat of deflation in the currency bloc.
Earlier Friday, Markit research group said that Germany's manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 52.4 last month from 52.9 in June. Analysts had expected the index to remain unchanged.
For the entire euro zone, Markit said the manufacturing PMI ticked down to 51.8 in July, from a reading of 51.9 the previous month. Analysts had also expected the index to remain unchanged.
The euro was higher against the pound, with EUR/GBP gaining 0.35% to 0.7957.
In the U.K., Markit said the manufacturing PMI fell to 55.4 last month, from a reading of 57.5 in June. Analysts had expected the index to slip to 57.2 in July.