Investing.com - The euro was almost unchanged against the U.S. dollar on Friday, after the release of mixed manufacturing and service sector data from the euro zone as investors continued to digest the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged this week.
EUR/USD 1.1194 during European morning trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.1202.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.1118, the low of September 21 and a five-week low and resistance at 1.1258, Thursday’s high.
Research group Markit said its German manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 54.3 in September from 53.6 the previous month, beating expectations for a downtick to 53.1.
However, the German services PMI slipped to 50.6 this month from 51.7 in August.
Markit also reported that its French manufacturing PMI increased to 49.5 in September from 48.3 in August, compared to expectations for a rise to 48.4.
The French services PMI advanced to 54.1 this month from 52.3 in August.
For the entire euro zone, the composite PMI, which includes both manufacturing and service sector activity, slipped to 52.6 in Septemner from 52.8 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to remain unchanged.
Meanwhile, the greenback slightly recovered from broad losses posted after the Fed decided on Wednesday to leave interest rates unchanged and projected a less aggressive rise in interest rates next year and in 2018.
However, the U.S. central bank signaled that it could tighten monetary policy before the end of the year if the job market continued to improve.
The euro was higher against the pound, with EUR/GBP gaining 0.37% to 0.8605.