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Euro falls to lowest since 2003 on Syriza victory; krone slides

26 January 2015 11:40 (UTC+04:00)
Euro falls to lowest since 2003 on Syriza victory; krone slides

By Bloomberg

The euro fell to an 11-year low as a party committed to renegotiating Greece’s international bailout won a victory in weekend elections, setting up a possible confrontation with the nation’s European partners.

The 19-nation currency dropped for a third day versus the dollar as Syriza leader and Greek Prime Minister-elect Alexis Tsipras said the era of bowing to international demands for budget cuts was over. Norway’s krone and the Australian dollar slid as a slump in oil damped demand for commodity currencies. The yen rose against all except one of its 16 major peers as Japan’s trade deficit was smaller than economists forecast. China’s yuan headed for its biggest two-day loss since 2008.

“Euro selling pressure will continue as Greeks rejected fiscal austerity, heightening the possibility of Greece leaving the currency bloc,” said Toshiya Yamauchi, a senior analyst in Tokyo at Ueda Harlow Ltd., a margin-trading-services provider. “Markets are sensitive to risk.”

The euro fell 0.2 percent to $1.1184 at 2:07 p.m. in Tokyo after sliding to $1.1098, the weakest level since September 2003. The common currency dropped 0.3 percent to 131.61 yen after reaching 130.15, the lowest since September 2013. The yen gained 0.1 percent to 117.66 per dollar.

Tsipras, addressing supporters in central Athens on Sunday night after outgoing Prime Minister Antonis Samaras conceded defeat, said the new government’s priority “will be for Greece and its people to regain their lost dignity.”

Rising Volatility

Tsipras’s Coalition of the Radical Left, known by its Greek acronym, took 36.4 percent of the vote with 95 percent of the ballots counted. Samaras’s New Democracy party’s was second with 27.8 percent. The result hands Tsipras a mandate to confront the program of austerity imposed in return for pledges of 240 billion euros ($268 billion) in aid since May 2010.

“What we do think this outcome brings is once again volatility back to the fore,” Ben Pedley, head of investment strategy for Asia at HSBC Private Bank in Hong Kong said in an interview with Bloomberg’s “On The Move” with Rishaad Salamat. “We’re looking at $1.09, which right now looks quite conservative” for the euro, he said.

The euro has tumbled 6.1 percent during the past month, the worst performer of 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The yen rose 5.9 percent, the best performance and the dollar gained 3.3 percent.

Yen Gains

The yen advanced for a second day versus the dollar as investors sought haven assets and as a finance ministry report showed Japan’s exports rose to the highest level in six years.

Overseas shipments climbed 12.9 percent from a year earlier, the finance ministry said, compared with the median estimate for a gain of 11.2 percent in a Bloomberg News survey.

The krone fell toward the weakest level since 2002 versus the dollar as crude oil fell to the lowest level in almost six years. Oil and gas make up about two thirds of Norway’s exports.

The Norwegian currency slumped 0.5 percent to 7.8070 per dollar after declining to 7.8745 on Dec. 16, the weakest since June 2002. It fell 0.4 percent to 98.7299 per euro.

Australia’s dollar dropped for a sixth day, sliding 0.3 percent to 78.82 U.S cents after reaching 78.55, the least since July 2009.

“We do see a decline in the Australian dollar continuing for a little while longer, perhaps by 2016, to sort of the mid-70 cents range,” said Pedley at HSBC Private Bank, which oversees $382 billion. “Certainly the Australian economy is going through a period of change and we would say domestic demand does look relatively soft.”

The yuan sank to a record discount to the central bank’s reference rate, nearing the limit of its permitted trading band.

“It’s going to be some hard times for the yuan as China will keep monetary policy relatively loose to ensure economic growth, which means more supply of the local currency,” said Daniel Chan, an analyst at Brilliant & Bright Investment Consultancy Ltd. in Hong Kong.

The yuan slid 0.5 percent to 6.2569 per dollar, extending its two-day drop to 0.8 percent, the most since December 2008.

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