BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The euro fell in lower-ranges on Wednesday as currency traders paid little heed to today's relatively bigger news about the eurozone exit from recession, after six straight quarters of economic shrinkage.
Preliminary data released by the Eurostat showed the region's gross domestic product expanded 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter following a 0.3 percent contraction in the first quarter.
Stronger-than-expected growth rates in Germany and France helped the euro area economy expand more than economists' forecasts for an increase of 0.2 percent growth.
Compared with the same quarter of 2012, the seasonally adjusted GDP fell 0.7 percent. This was slightly weaker than the expected 0.8 percent fall.
Germany's gross domestic product expanded 0.7 percent in the last quarter versus expectations for an increase of 0.6 percent. In France, the seasonally adjusted GDP rose 0.5 percent in the June quarter following 0.2 percent contraction in each of the past two quarters.
The pound rallied sharply as the number of people claiming job-seeker's allowances was the lowest since February 2009, falling by 29,200 in July from the prior month to reach 1.44 million.
The claimant count rate fell to 4.3 percent from 4.4 percent in June, while it was expected to remain unchanged at 4.4 percent. The unemployment rate was 7.8 percent during April to June, unchanged from January to March and in line with economists' forecast.
The figures are considered significant as the Bank of England Governor Mark Carney linked the future bank rate and asset purchases to the unemployment threshold early this month, when the committee unanimously decided to retain the size of quantitative easing at GBP 375 billion and the record low 0.50 percent interest rate.
The minutes of the aforementioned meeting released today showed that the policymakers approved forward guidance in a split vote as Martin Weale called for tougher stance on above 2 percent inflation.
Although supportive of the adoption of forward guidance, Weale voted against the proposition in order to register his preference for a time horizon for the first inflation knockout that was shorter than proposed, the minutes said.
Switzerland's economic confidence improved for the second successive month to 7.2 points in August from 4.8 points in July, a monthly survey by the Centre for European Economic Research in cooperation with Credit Suisse showed.
The euro traded in lower-ranges at 1.3270 and 1.3240 against the dollar after the GDP numbers, as traders mulled more on Federal Reserve's plans to scale back its bond purchases in September.
Te common currency shows some bearish extension against the dollar in the near-to-medium term, a quite familiar scenario after last week's failed test of 1.34 resistance.
The European shared unit also moved in relatively lower circuits against the pound, with the pair heading towards yesterday's fresh 5-week low of 0.8535. Post-GDP data range for the euro-pound pair was 0.8575 and 0.8550.
The single currency erased much of its Asian session advance against the yen and the Swiss franc after the data. The euro-yen pair was trading between 130.45 and 130.0, while the euro-franc pair has been in a tight range of 1.2424 and 1.2406.
Looking ahead, the U.S. Labor Department is scheduled to release its producer price inflation report for July at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect producer price inflation of 0.3 percent for the month, while core producer prices are estimated to have edged up by 0.2 percent.
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