The euro held above the $1.32 level Thursday after worse-than-expected trade deficit numbers from Washington eroded gains from the dollar's mini-rally at the start of the year.
The euro was at $1.3212 in midday trading, with the British pound down slightly from its $1.8914 level late Wednesday to $1.8851. The dollar bought 102.80 yen, slightly more than the 102.35 yen in late trading Wednesday. The 12-nation euro currency shot up from around $1.20 in September to a record high of $1.3667 at the end of December on persistent worries over the U.S. trade and budget deficits.
The euro then slipped back to around the $1.30 level in the first week of January on optimism over U.S. economic news and suggestions from the U.S. Federal Reserve that interest rates will move higher.
But the dollar was battered back down Wednesday when the U.S. Commerce Department reported the November trade deficit hit an all-time high of $60.3 billion, up 7.7 percent from an imbalance of $56 billion in October -- surprising economists who had forecast a narrowing in the trade gap.