Euro falls off three-week high against dollar

Euro fell in American trade away from March 28 highs against the dollar, following earlier data from the euro zone and the US, the world's largest economy, and ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic later today. 

As of 03:45 GMT, EUR/USD fell 0.28% to 1.2345 from the opening of 1.2380, with an intraday low at 1.2336, and a three-week high at 1.2414. 

Earlier Italian data showed the trade surplus at 3.10 billion euros in March, compared to the deficit of 0.09 billion in February, and beating expectations of a 2.23 billion surplus, while the ZEW Economic Sentiment surveys for Germany fell into negative territory, while slowing down for the whole euro zone. 

European Central Bank member Ardo Hansson said earlier that recent economic developments support his confidence in the path of inflation, noting that ECB policymakers are headed to policy normalization, especially on the assets purchase aspect. 

Otherwise, earlier US data showed housing starts rose 1.9% to an annualized 1.319 million units in March, compared to a 3.3% drop in February to 1.295 million, while analysts expected a 2.5% rise to 1.267 million. 

Building permits rose 2.5% to 1.354 million units, compared to a 4.1% fall in February to 1.321 million, while analysts expected no change at 1.321 million, as industrial output slowed down to 0.5% from 1.1% in February, beating forecasts of a 0.3% rise. 

The Capacity Utilization Rate inched down to 78% from 78.1 in February, also beating forecasts of 77.9%, while Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams spoke earlier today about monetary policy at a global symposium co-hosted by the National Association for Business Economics and Bank of Spain, in Madrid.

Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles testified on supervision and regulation before the House Financial Services Committee, in Washington DC.