The Euro firmed against the Canadian Dollar on Monday after official data showed that housing starts in the North American country fell by a bigger than forecast level in January.
According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the number of housing starts fell to 180,200 units last month. The figure was less than the 187,100 recorded in December and was below economist forecasts for a fall to 183,000 units.
“The trend in housing starts decreased slightly in January, while the inventory of newly completed and unabsorbed units saw a modest downward trend in the last half of 2013,” said the deputy Chief economist at CMHC.
The Euro was able to push higher against a number of peers and came close to a weekly high against the US Dollar after economists widely shrugged off data released earlier in the session which showed that industrial production in France fell by 0.3% in December. The decline took economists by surprise who had been expecting output to rise by 0.1%.
The single currency also found some support from a surprise rise in investor confidence. The Sentix measure of confidence climbed to 13.3 in January, a 34 month high, beating economist expectations for a reading of 10.1.
“The Eurozone is this month’s winner! Investors are perceiving a further improvement in the troubled single currency bloc in February,” said a senior analyst at Sentix. The confidence report rose to its highest level since April 2011.
Trading volumes are expected to remain light in today’s session due to a lack of important data releases. With no data out of the USA the market’s attention is focused on the week ahead. The next piece of data due for the ‘loonie’ comes on Thursday with the publication of the New House Price Index.
Euro (EUR) Exchange Rates
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Euro,
,US Dollar,1.3636 ,
Euro,,British Pound,0.8318 ,
Euro,,Canadian Dollar,1.5064,
Euro,,Australian Dollar,1.5262 ,
[/table]
