Euro rises for first time in three sessions against dollar

Euro tilted higher in American trade away from March 21 lows for the second session against the dollar, following earlier data from the euro zone and the US, the world's largest economy. 

As of 03:43 GMT, EUR/USD rose 0.20% to 1.2295 from the opening of 1.2271, with an intraday high at 1.2315, and a low at 1.2257. 

Earlier Italian data showed the unemployment rate fell to 10.9% from 11.1% in January, while consumer prices for the whole zone  accelerated to 1.4% as expected from 1.1%. 

Core consumer prices steadied at 1.0% with no change from February, missing expectations of 1.1%, while the unemployment rate for the whole zone fell to 8.5% from 8.6%. 

Otherwise, earlier US data showed private sector employment rose by 241 thousand jobs in March, adding to the 246K in February, and beating expectations of 208K.

US ISM Services PMI slowed down to 58.8 in March from 59.5, missing expectations of 59.0.

Services PMIs draw their importance from the fact that services constitute two thirds of American GDP, with the index providing an overall picture about many sectors in the economy, such as utilities, retail sales, housing, healthcare, and funding. 

Factory orders rose 1.2% in February, compared to a 1.3% drop in January, and missing expectations of a 1.7% rise, while Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta spoke earlier today about diversity in economics at Central State University, in Ohio.