Forex
Commodity currencies struggle, carry trade churn helps yen, Swiss franc
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By Tom Westbrook and Alun John
SINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) -Commodity currencies slid to multi-week lows on Wednesday on weakening raw material prices, with the heaviest selling against the yen which surged to its highest in two months as short sellers bailed out ahead of next week’s central bank meeting.
The Canadian dollar hit a three-month low of C$1.38 per dollar, ahead of a likely second rate cut in as many months by the Bank of Canada at its meeting later in the day.
The Australian dollar fell as much as 0.5% and at $0.6583 was only a few pips from chart support at the early June low. It fell more than 1% on the yen to 101.79 yen and is down nearly 7% against the Japanese currency in two weeks. [AUD/]
The New Zealand dollar fell 0.6% to a near three-month low of $0.5914.
The moves tracked falling prices for industrial metals such as iron ore and , which made 3-1/2 month lows on a gloomy outlook for Chinese demand, and risk aversion in stock markets following some disappointing U.S. earnings. [MET/L]
“We’re seeing softer demand in China and Asia in general and the and just being pulled down,” said Jason Wong, senior markets strategist at BNZ in Wellington.
The euro suffered after soft business activity dataand was last down 0.1% against the dollar at $1.10842 and fell 0.14% on the pound to 83.99 pence as the picture looked perkier in Britain.. [GBP/]
But the European common currency continued to climb against peers to the north, and hit a new eight-month top on the Norwegian crown of 12.00 crowns and a two-month high of 11.727 on the Swedish crown.
“These are the two least liquid currencies in G10, and we suspect markets are particularly punishing this aspect and rebuilding those shorts that had been trimmed throughout May and June,” said Francesco Pesole FX strategist at ING.
In Asia, the risk of a rate hike for Japan and recent rounds of suspected currency intervention have speculators rushing to close what had been profitable “carry” trades funded in yen. The Bank of Japan reviews policy next Tuesday and Wednesday.
In a carry trade investors borrow in a low-yielding currency to invest in higher-yielding assets denominated other currencies.
Dollar/yen went down nearly 1% on Tuesday and fell another 0.7% on Wednesday to its lowest since mid-May at 154.28 per dollar. The yen is the best performing G10 currency against the dollar in July so far.
Moves in other pairs have been larger, with the euro dropping 1.3% on the yen Tuesday and a further 0.86% to an 11-week low of 167.43 on Wednesday.
Mexico’s high-yielding peso dropped 2% on the yen on Tuesday and another 1.1% on Wednesday.
The churn in yen funded carry trades also had an effect on the other favoured funding currency, the Swiss franc, against which the dollar was down 0.43% at 0.8875 francs and the euro was down 0.57% at 0.9620.
Later in the week, markets are waiting on U.S. GDP and core PCE data to test expectations for two U.S. rate cuts over the rest of this year.
Forex
Major Russian lenders say yuan coffers empty, urge central bank action
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By Elena Fabrichnaya
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Major Russian banks have called on the central bank to take action to counter a yuan liquidity deficit, which has led to the rouble tumbling to its lowest level since April against the Chinese currency and driven yuan swap rates into triple digits.
The rouble fell by almost 5% against the yuan on Sept. 4 on the Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX) after the finance ministry’s plans for forex interventions implied that the central bank’s daily yuan sales would plunge in the coming month to the equivalent of $200 million.
The central bank had been selling $7.3 billion worth of yuan per day during the past month. The plunge coincided with oil giant Rosneft’s 15 billion yuan bond placement, which also sapped liquidity from the market.
“We cannot lend in yuan because we have nothing to cover our foreign currency positions with,” said Sberbank CEO German Gref, stressing that the central bank needed to participate more actively in the market.
The yuan has become the most traded foreign currency on MOEX after Western sanctions halted exchange trade in dollars and euros, with many banks developing yuan-denominated products for their clients.
Yuan liquidity is mainly provided by the central bank through daily sales and one-day yuan swaps, as well as through currency sales by exporting companies.
Chinese banks in Russia, meanwhile, are avoiding currency trading for fear of secondary Western sanctions.
At the start of September, banks raised a record 35 billion yuan from the central bank through its one-day swaps.
“I think the central bank can do something. They hopefully understand the need to increase the liquidity offer through swaps,” said Andrei Kostin, CEO of second-largest lender VTB, stressing that exporters should sell more yuan as well.
The acute yuan shortage also follows months of delays in payments for trade with Russia by Chinese banks, which have grown wary of dealing with Russia after U.S. threats of secondary Western sanctions. These problems culminated in August in billions of yuan being stuck in limbo.
Russia and China have been discussing a joint system for bilateral payments, but no breakthrough is in sight. VTB’s Kostin said that since Russia’s trade with China was balanced, establishing a clearing mechanism for payments in national currencies should not be a problem.
Forex
Bank of America sees more downside for the dollar
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Investing,com – The US dollar has stabilized after a sharp fall in August, but Bank of America Securities sees more troubles ahead for the US currency.
At 07:20 ET (11:20 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.2% lower to 101.077, having largely held its course over the last week.
That said, the US currency is still down 1.6% over the month.
The dollar’s selloff last month stood out in a historical context, according to analysts at Bank of America Securities, in a note dated Sept. 5.
The greenback has since stabilized, however, despite the outsized weakness, the US bank still sees three reasons to stay bearish on the Dollar Index (DXY).
Following similar episodes of bearish DXY breakouts, the index has tended to continue its downtrend, the bank said.
In the last 3 analogs, DXY index fell on average for another 4% before reaching a bottom. Extending this analysis to bilateral USD/G10 pairs suggests a continuation of the USD downtrend is more likely vs EUR, GBP, and AUD than SEK, NOK, and CHF in G10.
While the DXY made a new year-to-date low in August, broad nominal and real USD trade-weighted indices have stayed at Q4 2022 levels and would suggest the USD remains overvalued.
The USD selloff in 2024 has been concentrated in and other European currencies, leading to DXY divergence from other USD indices.
The bank also noted US 10y Treasury yield’s tendency to fall after the first Federal Reserve cut, while global financial conditions are set to loosen further.
“USD may see more weakness as other central banks, particularly the ones that cut policy rates ahead of the Fed, can now afford to let the Fed do some of their work and indirectly support global economies outside of the US,” BoA added.
Forex
Dollar’s demise appears overstated – JPMorgan
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Investing.com – The US dollar has had a difficult summer, dropping substantially during the month of August, but JPMorgan thinks those predicting the demise of the U.S. currency are getting ahead of themselves.
At 06:00 ET (10:00 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.2% lower to 101.127, having lost 1.6% over the course of the last month.
“Diversification away from the dollar is a growing trend,” said analysts at JPMorgan, in a note dated Sept. 4, “but we find that the factors that support dollar dominance remain well-entrenched and structural in nature.”
The dollar’s role in global finance and its economic and financial stability implications are supported by deep and liquid capital markets, rule of law and predictable legal systems, commitment to a free-floating regime, and smooth functioning of the financial system for USD liquidity and institutional transparency, the bank added.
Additionally, the genuine confidence of the private sector in the dollar as a store of value seems uncontested, and the dollar remains the most widely used currency across a variety of metrics.
That said, “we are witnessing greater diversification and important shifts in cross-border transactions as a result of sanctions against Russia, China’s efforts to bolster usage of the RMB, and geoeconomic fragmentation,” JPMorgan said.
The more important and underappreciated risk, the bank added, is the increased focus on payments autonomy and the desire to develop alternative financial systems and payments mechanisms that do not rely on the US dollar.
“De-dollarization risks appear exaggerated, but cross-border flows are dramatically transforming within trading blocs and commodity markets, along with a rise in alternative financial architecture for global payments,” JPMorgan said.
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