Forex Pros &ndash; The euro extended early gains against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, surging to a seven-day high after data showed euro zone inflation unexpectedly accelerated in March, bolstering the case for a rate hike by the European Central Bank next week.<br /><br />EUR/USD hit 1.4233 during European early afternoon trade, the pair&rsquo;s highest since March 22; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.4222, advancing 0.65%.<br /><br />The pair was likely to find support at 1.4051, Wednesday&rsquo;s low and short-term resistance at 1.4247, the high of March 22 and a four-month high.<br /><br />Earlier in the day, Eurostat said a preliminary estimate showed that the annual rate of consumer price inflation jumped to 2.6% from 2.4% in February, the highest level since October 2008 when the rate was 3.2%. <br /><br />Analysts had expected euro zone CPI to remain unchanged in March.<br /><br />Meanwhile, official data showed that the number of German people out of work fell to the lowest level since June 1992 in March, lowering the unemployment rate to 7.1% from 7.3% the previous month.<br /><br />The euro was also higher against the pound, with EUR/GBP rising 0.60% to hit 0.8842.<br /><br />Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish a government report on initial jobless claims, while in the euro zone Ireland was to release the results of stress tests on the banking sector.<br /><br /><br />

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