EUR/USD eases from tops but manages to hold above 1.23 mark

   •  Dovish ECB outlook continues to weigh on the shared currency.
   •  A modest USD rebound adds to the downward pressure.
   •  Further weighed down by Fed Rosengren’s hawkish comments. 

Having posted a session high level of 1.2346, the EUR/USD pair met with some fresh supply and drifted into negative territory for the second consecutive session.

The pair failed to capitalize on the early uptick and continues to be weighed down by Thursday's ECM monetary policy meeting minutes, revealing concerns over sustainable inflation. The dovish outlook was further reinforced by the ECB Governing Council member Jan Smets' comments on Friday, which kept exerting downward pressure on the shared currency. 

Adding to this, a modest US Dollar rebound, helped by an uptick in the US Treasury bond yields and further supported by hawkish comments by Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, collaborated to the pair's fall back closer to the 1.2300 handle.

Despite an intraday pull-back, the pair has managed to hold within previous session's trading range and in absence of any major market moving economic releases from the US, seems more likely to hold its neck above the 1.2300 handle ahead of the weekend. 

In the meantime, the second-tier releases of Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment and JOLTS Job Openings data from the US would be looked upon to grab some short-term trading opportunities.

Technical levels to watch

Any subsequent weakness below the 1.2300 handle is likely to find support near the 1.2280-75 region, below which the pair is likely to head back towards testing the 1.2235 intermediate support en-route the 1.2200 mark.

On the upside, the 1.2340-50 region now becomes immediate resistance and is closely followed by resistance near the 1.2370 level, which if cleared could assist the pair to move back towards reclaiming the 1.2400 handle.