Investing.com - The euro eased slightly against the U.S. dollar Tuesday, as European leaders prepared to meet over details on a bailout fund for debt threatened euro-zone members.
EUR/USD hit 1.4453 in early Asian trade, the pair’s highest since August 1; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.4442, falling 0.02%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.4105, last Thursday’s low, and resistance at 1.4475, the day’s high.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were scheduled to meet Tuesday in Paris, to hammer out details on a European rescue fund to aid euro-zone countries in danger of debt insolvency.
The meeting had been arranged last week as rumors of a French credit rating downgrade rattled markets and sent French financial institution shares tumbling on European bourses.
Germany’s Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, has been openly critical of the euro-zone rescue fund details saying that he opposed unlimited aid to debt-threatened countries.
The European Central Bank began recently buying Spanish and Italian government bonds in order to strengthen those country’s financial standings in return for a tightening of adherence to EU budget rules.
France, Italy, Belgium and Spain introduced new bans on short-positions last Friday, in hopes that the moratorium on the practice would "restrict the benefits that can be achieved from spreading false rumors" following recent volatility in European markets, according to the European Securities and Marketing Authority.
U.S. financial issues, in Monday trade, led a surge on Wall Street, boosted by an 8% leap by Dow Jones component Bank of America Corp., which reported closing a deal to sell off its USD 8.6 billion Canadian credit card portfolio.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.9%, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.9%, and the S&P 500 gained 2.1%.
Meanwhile, the euro was higher against the British pound but down against the Japanese yen, with EUR/GBP gaining 0.05% to hit 0.8816 and EUR/JPY down by 0.01% to hit 100.94.
Eurostat was scheduled to release quarterly gross domestic product figures on Tuesday. Economists forecast a 0.3% rise in euro-zone GDP.