Investing.com - The euro rose to session highs against the softer dollar on Monday as investors turned their attention to upcoming Federal Reserve minutes while comments by European Central Bank officials tempered expectations over possible quantitative easing by the bank.
EUR/USD touched session highs of 1.3746 and was last up 0.28% to 1.3740.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3694, the session low and resistance at 1.3775.
The dollar drifted lower as market watchers began to look ahead to Wednesday’s minutes of the Fed’s March meeting for further indication on the future direction of monetary policy.
The greenback softened against the other major currencies after official data on Friday showed that the U.S. economy added 192,000 jobs in March, below expectations for jobs growth of 200,000.
The U.S. unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.7%, compared to expectations for a downtick to 6.6%.
The data disappointed some market expectations for a more robust reading but indicated that the Fed is likely to stick to its current timetable for unwinding its asset purchase program.
The euro received a boost after ECB policymaker Yves Mersch said Monday that while the central bank was working on plans for large-scale asset purchases to drive up inflation in the euro zone, this program is not required yet.
Separately, Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann said that monetary policy cannot solve the financial crisis, and urged euro zone political leaders to keep reforming their economies.
The comments came after ECB President Mario Draghi said last week that unconventional monetary policy instruments may be necessary to avert the risk of ongoing low inflation becoming entrenched in the euro zone.
Elsewhere, the euro also gained ground against the yen, with EUR/JPY up 0.20% to 141.79.