Euro advances on dollar before Fed's minutes

Euro rose in American trade against the dollar following a basket of data from the US, the world's largest economy, and amid a lack thereof from the euro zone, and ahead of the Federal Reserve's minutes for the meeting held at the start of November. 

As of 05:36 GMT, EUR/USD rose 0.46% to 1.1792 from the opening of 1.1738, with an intraday high at 1.1798, and a low at 1.1733. 

Earlier US data showed durable goods order fell 1.2% in October, missing expectations of a 0.4% rise, and compared to September's 2.0% rise, while core orders, excluding transportation, rose 0.4% in line with expectations, while down from September's 0.7% growth. 

US unemployment claims fell to 239 thousand in the week ending November 18, besting expectations of a drop to 241K, and compared to the previous reading's 252K, revised higher from 249K. 

The University of Michigan's final reading of the Consumer Sentiment survey rose to 98.5 from the preliminary reading of 97.8, compared to 100.7 in October, while the economic conditions and outlook indicators fell, as inflation outlook varied for one and five-year terms. 

Later today, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its last policy meeting, at which policymakers voted to hold interest rates unchanged between 1.00% and 1.2%, while pointing to strong US growth and improvement in the labor sector, and downplaying concerns about the recent hurricanes that hit the US, and asserting their work to normalize the balance sheet, a process which started in October.