The euro rose against
the dollar for the
first time in three days on speculation the European Central Bank will keep
interest rates at a six-year high this week to control inflation.
The ECB will leave its main refinancing rate at 4% when policy makers meet May
8, according to a survey.
Consumer prices in the 15-member euro area rose 3.6% in March from a year ago, the highest in 16 years
and way above the ECB's 2% average inflation target. The European Commission
has recently raised its inflation projection for the euro area to 2.9% for the
whole of 2008 from as low as 2.1% previously.
The U.S. currency briefly pared its
drop against the
euro as a private report showed service industries expanded in April. The
Institute for Supply Management's index of non-manufacturing businesses, which
make up almost 90% of the economy, increased to 52, from 49.6 the prior month.
EUR/USD slowly
rose from $1.5430 to $1.5500. But rate failed to break above the figure and
retreated to $1.5440, later to $1.5420. Then rate rose again to $1.5520.
GBP/USD printed
lows around $1.9650 before slowly strengthened to $1.9720.
USD/JPY consolidated
for some time within the Y105.14/50 range before it declined to the lows around
Y104.70.
EU data include service PMI reports, while EU will release PPI data for March. There is no key economic data from US scheduled for today.