Euro falls as business sentiment weakens The euro dropped on Thursday as a general strike in Spain and waning economic confidence saw the single currency come under selling pressure. Analysts said order books were showing strong sell orders for the euro above a $1.3300 support level. They added, however, that below this level further downside momentum would likely struggle. The single currency lost 0.2 per cent against the dollar to $1.3290 and 0.3 per cent against sterling to £0.8363 in early morning trading. The single currency was hit by March's eurozone business and consumer survey which provided another reminder that the region's economy was still weak. Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, said: "The slight fall in the overall economic sentiment indicator brought the improvement seen in the previous few months to a halt and left the index consistent on past form with broadly stagnant activity." The euro's losses were contained, however, as investors took a positive message from German unemployment figures which saw joblessness hit a post-reunification low in March. The dollar index traded flat at 79.192 in the absence of any real data points bar initial jobless claims which analysts expect to register a slight increase after hitting a four-year low last week. Japan's yen continued to gain as retail sales climbed in February at the fastest pace in a year and a half and fiscal year end flows buoyed a currency which is benefiting from a risk-off environment. The Japanese fiscal year ends on March 31. The yen gained nearly 1 per cent against the euro to Y109.33 and bounced 0.7 per cent against the US dollar to Y82.32. The yen has gained about 1.6 per cent against the dollar since March 20 and analysts suggest dollar-yen could break below its Y81.90 support area and touch Y80.50 before returning back towards its recent highs of Y84.20. Australia's dollar fell another 1.1 per cent against the yen, hitting a low of Y85.08. The Aussie also lost 0.4 per cent against the dollar to $1.0343, belying analyst predictions that a $1.04 level against the dollar would prevent further weakness. The currency remained in thrall of weakening Chinese demand, while some observers predicted that the Reserve Bank of Australia would cut interest rates at its meeting next week. Adding to the Aussie's woes was a speech by the country's Treasurer Wayne Swan who said that weakening revenues could force the government into steep spending cuts to balance the budget. The Czech koruna, the Romanian leu and the South African rand all face central bank decisions on Thursday. Analysts expect the Czech and South African cental banks to hold rates but expect the Romanian central bank to cut. Benoit Anne of Société Générale said he expects the National Bank of Romania to reduce its key monetary policy rate by 25 basis points to 5.25 per cent. The Czech koruna fell 0.6 per cent against the dollar at Kc18.630 in morning trading while the Romanian leu lost 0.5 per cent to 3.2971 lei and the South African rand dropped 0.6 per cent to R7.7389 having lost more than 1 per cent on Wednesday after a downgrade to its ratings outlook.