The American currency extended its decline during the Asian session, as Australian employment data came out much better than expected, boosting high yielders. The EUR/USD pair surged to a fresh weekly high of 1.0764, but retreated sharply to negative territory with the European opening. There were no macroeconomic releases in Europe to affect the common currency, but is all about Greece today: Athens is due to pay almost €1 billion to the IMF during the first days of May, and clearly, the country can't afford it without the EZ assistance. Furthermore, late Wednesday ratings agency S&P has downgraded Greece's credit rating again, to CCC+/C from B-/B, saying the country's financial commitments are "unsustainable."
The possibility of a Greece default, was fueled by a local newspaper, saying that the New Democracy party believes that a Greek exit is possible, and by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble who ruled out further concessions to Greece, saying it’s up to the Greek government to commit to the reforms needed to release aid. ECB's Mario Draghi, said pretty much the same on Wednesday in the Central Bank economic policy meeting, when asked by a journalist.
The technical picture shows that, in the 4 hours chart, the pair has failed to sustain gains above the 61.8% retracement of its latest bullish run, and trades in the 1.0640 region, with the immediate support is at 1.0620, where the pair has established its daily low and where the 20 SMA aims slightly higher in the mentioned time frame. The technical indicators present a nice bearish slope, but remain above their mid-lines, suggesting additional declines below the mentioned 1.0620 level are required to confirm a new leg lower, towards 1.0550, next strong static support level. A break below it should lead to an approach to the 1.0500 figure. To the upside, the immediate resistance comes at 1.0690, the 61.8% retracement of the latest bullish rally, with some gains above it favoring a retest of the 1.0750/60 price zone.
View Live Chart for EUR/USD
The possibility of a Greece default, was fueled by a local newspaper, saying that the New Democracy party believes that a Greek exit is possible, and by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble who ruled out further concessions to Greece, saying it’s up to the Greek government to commit to the reforms needed to release aid. ECB's Mario Draghi, said pretty much the same on Wednesday in the Central Bank economic policy meeting, when asked by a journalist.
The technical picture shows that, in the 4 hours chart, the pair has failed to sustain gains above the 61.8% retracement of its latest bullish run, and trades in the 1.0640 region, with the immediate support is at 1.0620, where the pair has established its daily low and where the 20 SMA aims slightly higher in the mentioned time frame. The technical indicators present a nice bearish slope, but remain above their mid-lines, suggesting additional declines below the mentioned 1.0620 level are required to confirm a new leg lower, towards 1.0550, next strong static support level. A break below it should lead to an approach to the 1.0500 figure. To the upside, the immediate resistance comes at 1.0690, the 61.8% retracement of the latest bullish rally, with some gains above it favoring a retest of the 1.0750/60 price zone.
View Live Chart for EUR/USD
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