Forexpros - The euro was steady against the yen on Thursday, trading close to a three-month high after U.S. jobless claims remained broadly unchanged while concerns over the economic outlook in the euro zone continued to weigh. EUR/JPY hit 106.87 during European afternoon trade, the pair’s highest since November 9; the pair subsequently consolidated at 106.72, adding 0.32%.The pair was likely to find support at 105.42, Wednesday’s low and resistance at 107.58, the high of November 9.Official data showed earlier that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week remained at 351,000, holding steady near the lowest level since March 2008, confounding expectations for an increase to 354,000.Jobless claims have remained below 400,000, a level historically associated with an improving labor market, in 15 of the past 17 weeks.Meanwhile, the euro’s gains were limited after the European Commission’s forecast for economic growth showed that the euro zone’s economy would contract by 0.3% in the first quarter after dropping by the same amount in the last quarter of 2011. Two consecutive quarters of contraction signal a recession.Sentiment strengthened earlier after German research institute Ifo said its Business Climate Index rose to a seasonally adjusted 109.6 in February from a reading of 108.3 the previous month, surpassing expectations for an increase to 108.8.
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