The euro hit a 10-day high following comments by European Central Bank officials that the end of the bond purchase program by the end of 2018 would be reasonable and expressed confidence that inflation would return to the target. Peter Praet, ECB chief economist, said the bank would discuss next week whether to gradually unwind bond purchases program.
The news pushed the EURUSD to the 1.1775 level the highest since May 23, and so far, the EUR has gained around 0.8% this week. The comments of the officials of ECB after the speech of Giuseppe Conte, the new Italian Prime Minister.
The Australian dollar picked up at the beginning of the day following positive growth data that exceeded market expectations, with GDP rising by 1% on quarterly basis and by 3.1% on yearly basis.
Although sterling rallied for a second consecutive day supported by some positive data but remained stuck in a tight range pending more clarity on the economy and Brexit talks. GBPUSD is currently trading near a strong resistance level at 1.3456.
Markets are awaiting the EU summit on June 28-29 to break the stalemate over Britain's conditions for leaving the EU with time is running before Britain officially leaves EU in March 2019.
