Euro declines after weak retail data

Euro declined against most major rivals on Thursday following weak data while markets assess geopolitical developments. 

Russia

The US Senate asserted the decision to ban Russian oil and gas supplies today.

The EU is also discussing imposing similar bans on all or most Russian energy supplies.

The strict measures comes following news of massacres committed by the Russian army in several Ukrainian cities. 

EUR/USD fell 0.1% to 1.0887 as of 17:45 GMT, with an intraday high at 1.0938. 

An official at the European Central Bank expected an exit from the negative rates policy by year end. 

Official data showed retail sales rose 0.3% in March, while analysts expected a 0.6% rise. 

US Dollar

The dollar index rose 0.1% to 99.7 as of 17:47 GMT, marking a session-high at 99.8, and a low at 99.4. 

The Federal Reserve released the minutes of its last meeting, at which policymakers voted to hike rates by 25 basis points to 0.50% for the first time since 2018, with many members preparing for 50-basis-points hikes in the future.

The minutes are consistent with market expectations of several rate hikes in the US in the next few months, starting in May.

Aussie

The Australian dollar fell 0.5% as of 17:49 GMT to 0.7477, with a session-high at 0.7521, and a low at 0.7466. 

Earlier Australian data showed a surplus of 7.47 billion Australian dollars, missing estimates of 11.70 billion.