Euro soars to 4 1/2-month high against UK's sterling

Thursday in Asia, the European currency showed strength against its major counterparts. The euro thus rose to a 4 1/2 - month high against the British pound, 3-day highs against the currencies of US and Japan and a 2-day high versus its Swiss counterpart.

Against the US dollar, the European single currency traded higher during early Asian deals on Thursday. At about 10:10 pm Eastern Time, the euro hit a 3-day high of 1.4793, compared to 1.4728 hit late New York Wednesday. The European currency rose to a 4 1/2-month high of 0.8062 against the British pound at about 9:55 pm ET Wednesday. The euro-pound pair that closed yesterday's North American session at 0.8025 is now worth 0.8053. Against its Swiss counterpart, the euro gained ground after hitting a low of 1.6147 at about 7:30 pm ET Wednesday. The euro-franc pair is currently trading at a 2-day high of 1.6178, compared to yesterday's closing value of 1.6166. The single currency showed strength against the Japanese yen during early Asian deals on Thursday. At about 10:00 pm Eastern Time, the euro- yen pair reached 162.04, up from Wednesday's close of 161.28. This set a 3-day high for the pair. As of now, the pair is worth 161.76. Traders will have a busy European session today, in which German ILO Unemployment Rate, Italian Producer Price Index for July and the Euro -Zone Consumer Confidence for August are expected. Across the Atlantic, the US Q2 GDP is expected to influence trading in the New York morning. Data released since the advance (first) estimate of Q2 GDP has implied stronger growth in the quarter. We look for GDP to be revised up 1.0pp to 2.9 percent q-o-q ar, predict the economists at Lehman Brothers. The majority of the upward revision should be in trade and inventory, leaving domestic final sales unchanged at 1.3 percent. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserv