- Howard Archer, chief Eurozone and U.K. economist for IHS Global Insight
The single currency rocketed on Thursday on the back of positive data from the 18-nation bloc that showed manufacturing and services sectors gained momentum in January, while current account surprisingly swelled in November. The most traded currency pair advanced to 1.3641, breaking through an important resistance at 1.3600 an heading towards last week's high at 1.3699.
The Eurozone manufacturing sector improved for a third consecutive month in December, hitting 53.9 from 52.7 a month earlier and beating analysts' forecasts for a 53.2 reading. Factories in Europe's largest economy kicked off the first month of the year, with manufacturing PMI rising to 56.3, up from December's final reading of 54.3. According to Markit, manufacturing sector will post a 1% growth in the fourth quarter of 2013, making a significant contribution to overall growth. For the Eurozone services sector, the index climbed to 51.9 over the period, after hitting 51.0 in December.
Another set of positive data was published by the ECB that said the net flow of current transactions into and out of the common currency bloc posted a higher surplus in November. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the current account surplus rose to 23.5 billion euros, from the upwardly revised 22.2 billion a month ago. Markets, however, expected a surplus of just 19.2 billion.
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