The euro rose to a 12-day high against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as new signs of progress in tackling the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone boosted market sentiment and sent the single currency broadly higher.

The euro found support on Friday after the group of 20 leading economies agreed to boost the International Monetary Fund’s lending capacity by $430 billion, to help shield the global economy from the debt crisis in the Eurozone.

The euro rose to a 12-day high against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as new signs of progress in tackling the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone boosted market sentiment and sent the single currency broadly higher.

The euro found support on Friday after the group of 20 leading economies agreed to boost the International Monetary Fund’s lending capacity by $430 billion, to help shield the global economy from the debt crisis in the Eurozone.

In the UK on Friday, retail sales figures came out more positive than expected showing 3.3% compared to the predicted figure of 1.3%. (The U.K. Office for National Statistics). As a result, this gave a positive outlook for UK growth and economy.

In the week ahead, investors will be eyeing the Fed’s rate statement for any signs that the central bank is leaning towards another round of monetary easing, while the euro looks set to remain under pressure as concerns over Spain’s fiscal woes continue.

Today, the Eurozone is to produce preliminary reports on manufacturing and services purchasing managers’ indexes in France, Germany and throughout the single currency bloc. All fundamentals from the Eurozone are expected to be positive, however this morning, Germany’s PMI for manufacturing figures was weaker than expected giving an indication that the euro could potentially struggle today.

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