Investing.com - The euro remained higher against the U.S. dollar in thin trade on Monday, as sentiment mildly improved amid hopes of progress in tensions opposing Russia and Ukraine although worries over the outlook for global economic growth continued to weigh.
EUR/USD hit 1.2697 during U.S. morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2687, climbing 0.48%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2582, the low of October 7 and resistance at 1.2792, the high of October 9.
Market sentiment found some support following reports Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to withdraw from their training exercises near the Ukraine border on Sunday.
But investors remained cautious after the International Monetary Fund cut its forecasts for global growth in 2014 and 2015 last week and warned that global growth may never reach its pre-crisis levels ever again.
The fund revised down its growth forecasts for the euro area’s three largest economies Germany, France and Italy.
The euro was hit last week by fears that Germany, the euro zone’s largest economy is being dragged into a recession after recent data indicated unexpected weakness in manufacturing and exports.
Data released last Thursday showed that German exports fell 5.8% in August, and this followed weak industrial output figures on Tuesday.
Manwhile, the dollar remained under pressure after the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's September meeting last week prompted investors to push back the expected timing of a Fed rate hike.
On Friday, Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said weaker-than-expected global growth could prompt it to slow the pace of eventual interest rate hikes.
The euro was also higher against the pound, with EUR/GBP up 0.41% to 0.7888.
Trading volumes were expected to remain thin on Monday with U.S. markets closed for the Columbus Day holiday.