The U.S. dollar pared increases within the early morning trade in the U.S. session, after the latest U.S. Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) figure for February which revealed a slow-down in the services sector.
The U.S. dollar index, which measure the dollar’s strength against the trade-weighted basket of six other major currencies, was up by 0.44% and was trading at 101.36.
The dollar started the trading session with strong gains, with more that .05% that is followed by bullish comments from two policymakers of the Federal Reserve, on the March interest rate hike, this sent the Euro tumbling into session lows.
Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker stated that on Monday he would support an interest rate increase at the central bank’s next meeting in March if the economy continues to perform well.
The dollar retreated later during the U.S. session, after the market research group market said that its flash services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) eased to 53.9 this February, which fell short of analysts’ expectation of an increase to 55.8
Despite a strong round of Eurozone manufacturing data, the euro struggled for momentum, as skepticism over the upcoming elections in France and the Netherlands continued to weigh on the single currency.
The euro trade lower against both sterling and dollar, with the euro EUR/USD down 0.59% at $1.0548 and EUR/GBP down 0.65% at £0.8464, while the GBP/USD traded flat at $1.2464
Meanwhile, the dollar continued its march higher against the yen, the USD/JPY climbed 0.45% to 113.55.