FX round-up: Calm in currency patch amid volatility storm in commodities
Currency markets took a breather following several sessions of pronounced movements, especially in the emerging markets space and ahead of a raft of data due out at the end of the week, as volatility and traders’ attention moved to the commodities markets.
The euro/dollar edged higher 0.03% to end the day at 1.0832.
Nevertheless, tensions surrounding the situation in Greece continued to simmer. Writing in the Financial Times Wolfgang Munchau mused on how there was “revolution in the air” in Greece.
“The Germans refuse any discussion on [debt writedowns], citing some trumped-up rules according to which Eurozone countries are not allowed to default. This is legal hogwash […],” Munchau added.
For its part, dollar/yen - a widely followed barometer of risk aversion - pushed higher by 0.19% to 124.31.
Cable was down 0.24% to 1.5568 by the closing bell. Traders were expectant ahead of Wednesday’s release of the minutes of the last MPC policy meeting.
Further afield, the Aussie slipped just a tad, ending the day off by 0.04% to 0.7372.
Acting as a backdrop, some market commentary pointed out how the Colombian Peso had slid by 12% since mid-May in parallel to large falls in the Chilean peso as the price of copper sank.
As commodity prices come off the boil, in many cases after a multi-year ‘Super-cycle’, that was leaving behind yawning shortfalls in tax revenues and trade balances in many Latin American nations.