The euro continued to be higher in New York morning deals on Wednesday, after the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said that the bank needs more time to decide upon expanding its asset purchase programme, as it wants to monitor whether the emerging market slowdown, fall in the price of commodities and financial turbulence would impact its outlook for price stability.
In his testimony to the European Parliament, Draghi said that slowing growth in emerging market economies, stronger euro and the fall in oil prices and in commodity prices have posed renewed downside risks to the outlook for growth and inflation.
Meanwhile, it is premature to say "whether they will cause lasting slippage from the trajectory that we initially expected inflation to follow when we decided to expand our asset purchase programme in January," he noted.
Flash data from Markit showed that the Eurozone private sector growth eased slightly in September.
The composite output index dropped to 53.9 from 54.3 in August. It was expected to fall to 54.
The latest index nevertheless remained broadly in line with recent readings seen over the past eight months, and pushed the third quarter average to the highest seen since the second quarter of 2011, Markit said.
The euro has been higher in the European session after the ECB governing council member Ewald Nowotny cautioned about expanding the central bank's stimulus programme soon.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Nowotny said that further expansion of the quantitative easing program "deserves a much more thorough examination."
"There is an upswing in the euro area," Nowotny said, although it is not as strong as expected.
Similarly, European Central Bank member Bostjan Jazbec said that modification of its existing 1 trillion euros asset purchase programme is not on cards in the present scenario.
Speaking at a news conference, Jazbec told the monetary policy work with a lag, making it premature to talk any other scenario other than what has been agreed upon.
In early New York deals, the euro climbed to 134.45 against the yen, following a decline to new 2-week low of 133.16 at 1:15 am ET. The euro is poised to test resistance around the 136.00 area.
The euro, having fallen to near a 3-week low of 1.1105 against the greenback at 8:45 pm ET, reversed direction with the pair trading at 1.1171. The next possible resistance for the euro-greenback pair may be located around the 1.13 level.
The 19-nation currency advanced to 0.7331 against the Sterling, a 5-day high, off its early low of 0.7233. If the euro-pound pair extends rise, 0.75 is possibly seen as its next resistance level.
The single currency rose to a 2-day high of 1.0903 against the Swiss franc, coming off from a low of 1.0841 hit at the beginning of today's trading. The euro is seen finding resistance around the 1.10 region.
The common currency strengthened to a 5-day high of 1.5897 against the aussie, 2-day highs of 1.7819 against the kiwi and 1.4877 against the loonie, off its early lows of 1.5679 and 1.7631, and a 2-week low of 1.4726, respectively. On the upside, the euro is likely to find resistance around 1.60 against the aussie, 1.80 against the kiwi and 1.60 against the loonie.
Looking ahead, at 12:30 pm ET, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart will speak at the Columbus Rotary Club, Georgia.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Business News
June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.