EUR/USD steadies around 1.1930 as investors ignore increased ECB asset purchases
- EUR/USD remains on track to end the first day of the week lower.
- ECB ramped up weekly asset purchases to €19.303 billion.
- US Dollar Index continues to fluctuate in daily range below 92.00.
The EUR/USD pair started the new week in a calm manner but edged lower in the second half of the week. With the market action turning subdued during the American trading hours, the pair started to move sideways around 1.1930, where it was down 0.2% on a daily basis.
ECB boosts weekly asset purchases
In its weekly publication, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced that it bought a net €19.303 billion of assets in the week to March 12 as part of its quantitative easing programme, compared to €17.068 billion in the previous week. This development didn't allow the shared currency to stage a rebound against the greenback.
Nevertheless, Isabel Schnabel, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, said that extrapolation from the weekly Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) purchase data to overall monthly data could lead to "misleading conclusions."
On the other hand, the US Dollar Index (DXY) is posting modest daily gains at 91.80. However, the lack of fundamental drivers behind the USD strength suggests that the DXY movement on Monday is likely a continuation of last Friday's rebound.
The only data from the US on Monday revealed that the NY Empire State Manufacturing Index in March improved to 17.4 from 12.1 in February but failed to trigger a meaningful market reaction.
On Tuesday, ZEW Economic Sentiment Index for Germany and the eurozone will be looked upon for fresh impetus. Later in the day, the US Census Bureau will release February Retail Sales figures.
Technical levels to watch for