Investing.com - The euro rose against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, after the European Central Bank President left monetary policy unchanged and as positive comments by ECB President Mario Draghi supported market sentiment.
EUR/USD hit 1.1060 during European afternoon trade, the pair’s highest since Tuesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.1042, gaining 0.25%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0979, Wednesday’s one-month low and resistance at 1.1086, the high of July 19.
At the conclusion of its policy meeting, the ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record-low 0.0%, in a widely expected move.
Commenting on the decision, ECB President Mario Draghi said the euro zone recovery faces several headwinds, and the risks remain tilted to the downside, citing the UK referendum, slowing emerging markets and the slow pace of structural reforms as key threats.
Darghi also said that European markets weathered the post-Brexit volatility with “encouraging resilience”, but reiterated that the central bank is ready to act by using all the instruments available under its mandate if necessary.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 16 fell by 1,000 to 253,000 from the previous week’s total of 254,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to increase by 11,000 to 265,000 last week.
Separately, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that its manufacturing index fell to -2.9 this month from June’s reading of 4.7. Analysts had expected the index to improve to 5.0 in July.
The euro was also higher against the pound, with EUR/GBP advancing 0.47% to 0.8378.