Thursday was a busy day for traders at ForexYard and other Forex markets across the world as numerous key economic events took place, with one notable event being the European Central Bank’s decision to raise interest rates to 1.5 per cent from 1.25 per cent. However, even after news of the interest rate hike, Forex traders chose the US dollar over the euro, with the single European currency failing to benefit from the rate rise thanks to continuing fears over Greece’s debt crisis.
Late on during the London trading session the US dollar was up by 0.28 per cent as the EUR/USD currency pair dropped to 1.4278. The in-form American currency was also up against the British pound, which was less of a shock following the Bank of England’s decision to keep its key interest rate at the record low figure of 0.5 per cent, a decision that came as little surprise to most informed Forex traders.
Forex traders at eToro and other trading platforms around the world saw renewed appetite for the euro today as Greece agreed new austerity measures to avoid defaulting on its debts, something that could spell disaster for the Greek economy. This latest agreement by the Greek Government will go a long way to securing the €28 billion EU/IMF bailout package, which is being voted on tomorrow.
The troubled Greek economy has been the primary reason for the euro’s recent poor performance across the world’s Forex markets, and the riots and protests by the people of Greece over the last 48 hours has done nothing to assist the fortunes of the euro. However, if a bailout package can be secured, the future of both Greece’s economy and the euro will look much brighter.
Wednesday has been a bad trading day for the euro so far as the European single currency suffered broadly during the first half of the day. A massive decline this morning saw the euro drop almost 1 per cent against the US dollar at ForexYard, following disagreements from Eurozone ministers regarding the Greek debt crisis and also news that some of France’s largest banks could face credit rating downgrades by leading rating agency Moody’s.
In recent weeks Forex traders have witnessed the euro holding its own, especially against the US dollar, which has been facing its own difficulties. However, the euro took a huge hit during the early London trading, with prices for the EUR/USD plummeting as low as $1.4310, still a distance above the support levels that are believed to be around the $1.4250 mark.
Over the past week there have been twist and turns across the world’s Forex markets, with many factors ranging from unemployment numbers to economic crises affecting the fortunes of foreign currencies and their exchange rates across the globe. Keep reading to find out what happened to the major currencies over the last seven days.
Last week the world’s most traded currency, the US dollar took a turn southward, reversing the advances made in previous weeks. Worse than expected manufacturing figures, higher unemployment and low consumer confidence left many Forex traders at eToro and other markets believing that the US Federal Reserve continue to keep interest rates low.
For the fourth month running the Bank of England has voted to keep interest rates at a record low of 0.5 per cent, which will possibly result in further woes for sterling, as a low interest rate often suppresses an economy’s currency. Traders at ForexYard and other online Forex brokers saw a drop in appetite for the UK’s currency following the publication of the BoE’s report.
Also, for the fourth month running, three of the nine Bank of England policy makers voted to raise interest rates while six voted against the policy as UK inflation climbed to 4.5 per cent, which is over double the Bank’s 2 per cent target. This led Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England to write a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer explaining why the BoE hasn’t raised interest rates once again, an action that many believe might reduce UK inflation.
The US dollar has been through the mill recently, losing ground against many of its counterparts over the last few weeks, with investors seeking positions elsewhere. It really has been a bad month for the dollar, the worst since September, ending with the US currency falling to a 2 ½ year low, with the US Federal Reserve’s ultra-loose monetary policy seeming to be the major factor in the dollar’s recent downfall.
The only saving grace for the dollar during Friday’s trading sessions was the measures taken by traders at ForexYard and other brokers to settle positions ahead of the weekend, allowing the struggling US currency a little breathing space to recover. However, many market insiders and analysts believe that the fortunes of the dollar will continue in a similar fashion on Monday when Forex trading resumes.
Speculators and investors at eToro and other online commodities brokers witnessed gold prices soar on Wednesday, breaking the ‘golden’ $1,500 mark in the process. And just like previous hikes in the price of gold, the price of other commodities benefitted too. This latest advance by the valuable metal has gone further than many analysts predicted and if you were on the gold wagon as it reached these dizzy heights on Wednesday you should be a happy trader right now.
Last week fear of inflation pushed gold prices up to the dizzy heights of $1,486 and the just the same as today, other precious metals including silver also climbed in value. Today silver traded above the $45.00 mark, climbing by 54 cents and hitting a 31-year high for the heavily traded commodity but what does the future hold for commodities such as silver and gold?
Fears of inflation pushed gold prices up during Friday’s trading sessions as traders at ForexYard and other online Forex brokers saw the precious metal as a safe hedge against the impending inflation rise expected in the US. A rise in inflation will often suppress a currency, which is the US dollar in this case. And traders have been selling dollars and buying gold, which has pushed its price to new highs.
During Friday’s US trading session gold climbed by 0.9 per cent to $1,486 per ounce before declining a little. However, it wasn’t just gold that was on the move. Traders also opted for silver as a safe haven commodity as they sought risk aversion tactics as the dollar fell. Silver closed this evening at $42.57 an ounce, which is a 31-year record high for the popular precious metal. The advances of silver made an overall gain of 2.2 per cent on the week.
Even though the euro has already benefitted greatly from the predicted interest rate rise tomorrow it still continued to make headway against its US counterpart, while the Japanese yen dropped to new lows. Forex traders at eToro watched the euro soar to a 14-month high against the dollar during today’s European trading sessions, at the same time as the yen fell to a a six-month low against the dollar and an 11-month low against the euro.
Unsurprisingly, the Japanese yen has been under the cosh since the devastating earthquake and tsunami that threw the yen into a chaotic position. However, the Bank of Japan has made numerous efforts to stabilise the yen but this hasn’t stopped the Japanese currency falling further. The EUR/JPY climbed to a high of 121.97 before settling at 121.70, which the USD/JPY was up 0.2 per cent at 85.12.
The British pound recovered against the euro during this morning’s European trading sessions, even following rising speculation that the Bank of England are due to raise the interest rate in the UK. Traders at ForexYard witnessed the pound climb away from Monday’s five-month low but the euro fought back, halting any further advances from the pound.
Even though the Bank of England is likely to raise interest rates, which will strengthen sterling, most investors and speculators now believe that the rate hike will take place later in the year. However, the European Central Bank has said that it was also likely to raise interest rates but investors believe that the European interest rate hike will take place sooner. This is why the British pound has not managed to break away from the euro today, instead making moderate headway against the single European currency.
