TOKYOHONG KONG, Aug 30 Reuters The euro climbed past parity against a softening dollar on Tuesday, ahead of German inflation that will help indicate the likelihood of a supersized European Central Bank rate hike.

The European common currency was 0.32 higher at 1.00295, buoyed by the rate bets and extending the previous day39;s rally, albeit from near 20year lows.

It39;s about the ECB being priced far more aggressively over the past few sessions, as well as a little bit of pressure coming off the natural gas prices, said John Hardy head of FX strategy at Saxo Bank.

It39;s also noticeable we39;ve seen a bit of magnetism around this parity level for eurodollar, so many times these big round levels can become major sticking points.

The chances of a 75 basis point move have been rising after a parade of ECB speakers at the Fed39;s annual symposium in Jackson Hole backed the case for a big hike.

German CPI data due later in the day will help provide an indication of how aggressively the ECB will need to move to curtail inflation. Preliminary data released earlier showed Spanish national consumer prices rose 10.4 in August from a year earlier, down from 10.8 the previous month.

Also on traders39; radars are several ECB speakers due to make public remarks later on Tuesday, which could guide markets towards or away from such a large increase, as well as gas prices, which are lower than they have been as European countries39; storage facilities fill up. EU NG

The dollar…