EUR/USD finds some support near 1.0900 handle

The EUR/USD pair finally broke below its 20-pips consolidative range and dropped to test the 1.0900 handle during early European session, albeit has managed to bounce off few pips.

As the European session got underway, a fresh wave of greenback buying interest, with the key US Dollar Index building on overnight gains and currently placed at session tops near 99.20 region, has been the key factor weighing on the major.

Also collaborating to the downslide was a larger-than-expected drop in German trade surplus, coming-in at €19.6 billion for the month of March as compared to €21.2 billion recorded in the previous month. Looking at the finer details, both imports and exports recorded a better-than-expected monthly growth of 2.4% and 0.4% respectively, and helped limit further losses, at least for the time being. 

Market also seems to have digested a dismal German industrial production data, which although contracted 0.4% m-o-m during March but was slight above consensus estimates pointing to a 0.6% drop as against 1.6% growth reported in February. 

   •  Germany: Industrial production breather in midst of strong growth - ING

Next on tap would be JOLTS job openings data from the US, due for release during early NA session ahead of speeches by couple of FOMC members - Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren and Dallas Fed President Robert Steven Kaplan. 

   •  US: NFIB survey and Fed speak amongst market movers today – Danske Bank

Technical levels to watch

On a sustained break below the 1.0900 handle, the pair is likely to accelerate the corrective slide towards 1.0885-80 intermediate support before eventually dropping to mid-1.0800s support. On the upside, any recovery move above 1.0930 level now seems to confront resistance near 1.0950 region, which if cleared has the potential to lift the pair back towards 1.0980-85 intermediate resistance en-route the key 1.1000 psychological mark.