Investing.com - The euro dropped to two-and-a-half week lows against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as strong U.S. retail sales data boosted demand for the greenback, while a disappointing euro zone economic growth report weighed on the single currency.
hit 1.1308 during U.S. morning trade, the pair's lowest since April 28; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.1305, declining 0.62%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.1270, the low of April 27 and resistance at 1.1428, Thursday's high.
The U.S. Commerce Department said increased by 1.3% last month, compared to expectations for a rise of 0.8%. Retail sales for March dropped 0.3%, whose figure was revised up from an initial 0.4% decline.
, which exclude automobile sales, increased by 0.8% in April, beating forecasts for an advance of 0.5%.
A separate report showed that rose by 0.2% in April, compared to expectations for a 0.3% gain, after a 0.1% slip the previous month. Year-on-year, were flat.
, which excludes food and energy, ticked up 0.1% last month, in line with expectations.
The single currency weakened earlier after official data showed that euro zone rose to 0.5% in the first quarter, from 0.3% in the preceding quarter.
That was below the initial reading of 0.6% released on April 29 and consensus that was expecting no change.
Year-on-year, in the single currency bloc rose 1.5%, also below the initial estimate, the fourth quarter reading and analyst forecasts for growth of 1.6%.
The euro was higher against the pound, with rising 0.34% to 0.7872.
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