PARIS: The single currency dropped on Monday as uncertainty over the French Presidential election increased after former Prime Minister Alain Juppe ruled himself out of the elections.
Earlier in the day, although euro remained under pressure in Asia and weakened to 1.0592 ahead of European open, price rose to session high at 1.0640 in early European morning on cross-buying vs sterling. However, price pared its gains after news of Juppe and dropped to an intra-day low at 1.0577 ahead of New York open before staging a recovery, price later weakened to session lows of 1.0575.
Versus the Japanese yen, the greenback met renewed selling at 114.14 in Australia and dropped to an intra-day low at 113.56 in European morning on broad-based buying of yen. However, dollar pared its losses and staged a rebound to 113.92 in New York morning. Price extended intra-day gain due to broad-based USD strength in New York afternoon and hit session highs of 114.09 before easing on renewed cross-buying in yen.
The British pound dropped from Australian high at 1.2301 to an intra-day low at 1.2248 in European morning due partly to cross-selling of sterling especially vs euro. Later, cable rebounded to 1.2279 at New York open before retreating again; the pound later hit session lows of 1.2224 before stabilizing.
On the data front, the U.S. Census Bureau said factory orders increased by a seasonally adjusted 1.2% in January, above forecasts for a gain of 1.0%. Factory orders gained 1.3% in December.
