FX round-up: Euro weighed down by US housing data
The euro/dollar drifted lower on Wednesday following the release of stronger than expected US housing data and despite the European Central Bank´s decision to increase the size of its Emergency Liquidity Assistance facility for Greece.
Existing US home sales grew by 6.1% month-on-month in March (consensus: 4.89m), easily outpacing economists' forecasts.
That weighed on euro/dollar, which retreated 0.13% to 1.07246.
In parallel, dollar/yen advanced 0.28% to reach 119.996.
Euro/Swiss franc advanced 1.34% to reach 1.0396. That came after the Swiss National Bank (SNB) reduced the group of sight deposit account holders who are exempt from negative interest rates.
Cable gained 0.73% to 1.5038 after the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee held on 8 and 9 April revealed a considerably less dovish bias than markets had been anticipating.