Euro Rises Further After German Ifo Business Confidence

The euro spiked up further against most major currencies in the early European session on Thursday after a data showed that German business sentiment rose better-than-expected for February.

German business sentiment improved more than expected in February, reports said today, citing a survey from the Munich-based Ifo institute.

The confidence index rose to 109.6 from 108.3 a month ago. Economists had expected the index to climb to 108.8.

At the same time, the current conditions index came in at 117.5, up from 116.3 in January. The reading was well above the consensus forecast of 116.5.

Likewise, the expectations index improved in February to 102.3 from 100.9. It stayed above the expected level of 102.

The euro climbed to more than a 2-month high of 1.3330 against the greenback with 1.34 seen as the next upside target level. The pair is now trading at 1.3316, compared to Wednesday's close of 1.3251.

Against the yen and the pound, the euro hit new multi-month highs of 106.84 and 0.8490, compared to yesterday's close of 106.41 and 0.8458, respectively. The next upside target level for the euro is seen at 108.00 against the yen and 0.855 versus the pound.

Looking ahead, the U.S. house price index for December and the weekly jobless claims for the week ended February 18 are expected in the New York morning session.