The euro rose against the U.S. dollar Monday even as Germany reported a smaller September trade surplus, with separate market reports pointing to a tentative improvement in sentiment across Asia.
FXStreet put the euro near $1.1190 at 4:10 a.m. ET (09:10 UTC), up about 0.4% against the dollar. Earlier, Reuters recorded a 0.2% gain to $1.1159 at 12:17 a.m. ET (05:17 UTC). The quotes reflect different points in the trading day.
Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said the country’s seasonally and calendar-adjusted trade surplus narrowed to €15.6 billion in September from €17.9 billion in August. The figures are preliminary.
Exports rose 2.0% from August to €141.1 billion, while imports increased 4.2% to €125.5 billion. Because imports grew faster than exports, the gap between the value of goods Germany sold abroad and the goods it bought from other countries narrowed.
FXStreet cited a €19.2 billion consensus estimate for the September surplus, above the official reading. Destatis said detailed data needed to explain the changes in trade were not yet available.
Reuters reported that a rebound in shares linked to artificial intelligence lifted sentiment in Asian markets. FXStreet characterized the improvement in risk appetite as mild. “Investors are starting to ease back into risk assets,” Capital.com senior financial market analyst Kyle Rodda told Reuters.
The dollar nevertheless remained near a 1½-year high against the euro after Friday’s U.S. employment report, Reuters reported. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said employers added 165,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate was 4.1%.
The next scheduled U.S. inflation reading is the BLS October Consumer Price Index report, due Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 8:30 a.m. ET (13:30 UTC).
