Euro slides to multi-week lows as ECB holds rates amid hawkish Fed rhetoric

The euro fell to a six-week low on 16 July as the dollar kept rising on the impact of Fed's rate hike talk while the market awaited the press conference of ECB president Mario Draghi.

The European Central Bank has kept the rates at the record lows as expected at the policy review earlier in the day and the market eyes Draghi's presser for his likely remarks on Greece.

EUR/USD traded as low as 1.0865, its lowest since 27 May, from the previous close of 1.0950. The single currency has fallen 1.3% from 14 July's close.

Janet Yellen, the fed chair, said in her Congress Testimony on 15 July that the US central bank is still likely to increase rates this year. Consumer spending will boost recovery, she said, while adding that Greece and China top the list of uncertainties.

European stock indices continued to rally as the Greek parliament has voted in favour of the new bailout deal reached by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and creditors, but the dollar positive has been a drag on the common currency.

Meanwhile, inflation data from the eurozone earlier in the day came in line with expectations but the trade surplus shrank both on adjusted and non-adjusted basis.

The core CPI rate stood at 0.8% from a year earlier in June, unchanged from May and analysts' forecasts. The headline rate was 0.2%, that too unchanged from forecast and the previous month.

The month-on-month rate has dropped to 0% from 0.2%, but that too was in line with expectations.

"The future of the actual government is therefore in jeopardy as 32 members of Syriza voted against the new austerity measure, shifting from a coalition government to a minority government," said Arnaud Masset, market analyst at Swissquote.