EUR/USD eases from 2-week tops, down little below 1.1600 handle

   •  Resurgent US bond yields helped ease USD bearish pressure and triggered some weakness.
   •  Downside remains limited following Draghi’s optimistic comments/strong EZ data.

The EUR/USD pair retreated around 30-35 pips from near two-week tops and is currently trading with modest losses, just below the 1.1600 handle. 

The pair built on this week's goodish recovery move from seven-week lows and touched an intraday high level of 1.1611, albeit struggled to build on the momentum amid a modest US Dollar rebound. 

With investors looking past Thursday's softer US consumer inflation figures, a fresh leg of an upsurge in the US Treasury bond yields helped ease the USD bearish pressure and turned out to be one of the key factors capping gains. 

The downside, however, remained cushioned and found some support following the ECB President Mario Draghi's optimistic comments, saying that a broad-based Euro-zone economic growth will continue.

The shared currency was further underpinned by a larger than expected jump in the composite Euro-area industrial production, showing a growth of 1.0% m/m in August as compared to a contraction of 0.7% recorded in July.

Market participants now look forward to the release of Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment, a key highlight from today's relatively thin US economic docket, in order to grab some short-term opportunities on the last day of the week. 

Technical levels to watch

Immediate resistance is pegged near the 1.1610-20 region, above which the pair seems all set to continue with its bullish trajectory towards reclaiming the 1.1700 handle. 

On the flip side, any meaningful slide is likely to find support near the 1.1550-45 region, below which the pair could weaken back towards the key 1.1500 psychological mark.