The euro climbed half a percent on Friday after stronger than expected French business activity in June raised hopes that concerns about a widening slowdown in the eurozone in the second quarter may be slightly overdone.
With Germany flash services PMI data also beating forecasts, the single currency rose to the day’s highs at $1.1674. For the week it is poised to register a 0.5 percent rise, breaking last week’s fall.
“There was a lot of euro selling in the last few weeks because of the Italian market selloff and German politics, but those concerns have vanished and we are now advising clients to hold on to their euro positions,” said Manuel Oliveri, a currency strategist at Credit Agricole (PA:CAGR) in London.
Sentiment towards the euro was also boosted by a general increase in risk appetite across the board with Asian stocks (MIAPJ0000PUS) up half a percent while high-yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar <aud=d3>and the New Zealand dollar <nzd=d3>also posting chunky gains.</nzd=d3></aud=d3>
