The European common currency traded further higher against major opponents after the releasing of Eurozone inflation and Q2 employment reports in early European deals on Friday.
The latest data issued by Eurostat showed that Eurozone inflation increased as initially estimated to 2.6 percent in August. The rate rose from 2.4 percent in July.
The central bank aims to retain inflation rates below, but close to, 2 percent over the medium term. Month-on-month, consumer prices were up 0.4 percent, in line with economists' expectations.
Core inflation that excludes prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, meanwhile, slowed to 1.5 percent from 1.7 percent. The rate was forecast to stay stable at 1.7 percent.
In an another report, the Eurostat said that the number of persons employed remained stable in the euro area during the second quarter, after falling 0.3 percent sequentially in the prior quarter.
There were 146.4 million people employed in the euro area. On a yearly basis, employment fell 0.6 percent, following a 0.5 percent decline in the preceding three months.
Against its US counterpart, the euro extended its Asian session's gain in early European session as sentiment improved after widely anticipated announcement of further stimulus from the Federal Reserve in yesterday's New York session.
Presently, the euro is trading near 1.3100 versus the greenback, the highest value since May 04, 2012.
The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced a plan to buy $40 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities each month to bolster economic growth.
While launching a third round of quantitative easing, the Fed also extended its vow to keep interest rates at rock-bottom rates to mid-2015.
The euro is currently trading near more than a 2-month high of 0.8070 against the British pound and more than an 8-month high of 1.2180 versus the Swiss franc from yesterday's closing values of 0.8042 and 1.2152, respectively.
The European single currency also advanced further against the Japanese yen in today's European session and hit a fresh multi-month high of 102.26 by about 6:15 am ET. The pair that closed Thursday's New York session at 100.67, is now worth 102.13.
The U.S. advance retail sales, CPI, industrial production - all for August, preliminary report of Reuters/University of Michigan's consumer confidence index for September, business inventories report for July will be released in the New York morning session.
by RTT Staff Writer
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