Azernews.Az

Monday, November 2, 2026

Euro weakens on Greece while index futures, Europe bonds steady

25 May 2015 10:45 (UTC+04:00)
Euro weakens on Greece while index futures, Europe bonds steady

By Bloomberg

The euro slipped against most peers as Greek leaders said the country can’t take any more austerity and it’s time for creditors to compromise. Chinese shares extended their world-beating rally.

The euro slipped 0.2 percent against the U.S. currency by 7:11 a.m. in London, while Poland’s zloty declined after an opposition candidate won the presidency. French equity-index futures were little changed with European bonds. The Shanghai Composite Index added 2.3 percent after its biggest weekly jump this year, while Japan’s Topix index climbed to a fresh 7 1/2- year high. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index traded near a one- month high. Palladium fell 1.2 percent.

Markets in the U.S., U.K., Hong Kong and South Korea are closed Monday. The dollar capped its biggest weekly advance since September 2011 as faster-than-estimated U.S. inflation reinforced comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen that she expects to boost borrowing costs this year. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said over the weekend that the country can’t accept crushing austerity.

“Inflation is speeding up a little in the U.S., and we can see the intention to raise rates sometime this year,” Shoji Hirakawa, chief equity strategist at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo said by phone. The Greece “situation has become highly political so it’s hard to make a judgment, but we still need to consider it a risk.”

‘Enormous Strides’

The euro was weaker against 13 of its 16 major peers. Greece’s Interior Minister Nikos Voutsis, who has no economic decision-making powers, said Sunday the country couldn’t and wouldn’t pay the IMF in June without a deal.

Greece has made “enormous strides” and its now up to the creditors to make some moves, Varoufakis said Sunday on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.

Bloomberg’s dollar gauge was little changed after jumping 2.6 percent last week.

Speaking in Providence, Rhode Island, on Friday, Yellen said that she anticipates raising rates this year if the economy strengthens as she anticipates it will. Delaying the first increase until employment and inflation return to the Fed’s targets “would risk overheating the economy,” Yellen said.

CPI Gains

The core U.S. consumer-price index climbed 0.3 percent in April, the biggest gain since January 2013, data Friday showed. Economists had projected the rate would hold at 0.2 percent. Mixed economic reports have prompted investors to push back estimates for when the Fed will begin raising rates, helping to drive equities to all-time highs.

The zloty slipped 0.5 percent against the euro, touching its weakest level in two months, and lost 0.8 percent to the dollar.

Polish opposition candidate Andrzej Duda defeated Bronislaw Komorowski in a presidential runoff, setting up a showdown for a fall parliamentary election that may unseat one of Europe’s most economically successful governments. Duda received 52 percent in Sunday’s vote, according to an Ipsos exit poll. Komorowski, with 48 percent, conceded in a defeat that may shake up the government run by his Civic Platform allies.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed in Monday trading, after the gauge slipped 0.2 percent from a record. There is no settlement Monday.

The Shanghai Composite surged 8.1 percent last week, taking its advance in the last 12 months to almost 130 percent. The ChiNext index, which tracks start-up companies and gained 139 percent this year through Friday, fell 1.7 percent Monday. The ChiNext trades at 114 times trailing earnings.

IMF Payment

China and Hong Kong will start cross-border sales of funds on July 1, widening access to financial markets and capital in the world’s second-largest economy. China’s securities regulator said on its microblog Friday that it will target listed companies’ information disclosure and abnormal trading activities in an effort to clamp down on market manipulation.

The Topix’s 0.7 percent increase extended its longest run of daily gains since February, with the yen trading at 121.55 per dollar following last week’s 1.9 percent decline. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.7 percent, a seventh straight advance and heading for the highest close since April 2000.

Exports from Japan rose 8 percent in April amid an increase in shipments to the U.S. Imports fell by 4.2 percent, exceeding the 1.1 percent drop projected by economists though up from their 14.5 percent slump in March.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 1 percent and New Zealand’s benchmark gauge added 0.3 percent.

Palladium for immediate delivery slipped to $780.71 an ounce, while gold fell 0.1 percent to $1,205.18. Silver declined 0.2 percent and platinum was little changed.

Here we are to serve you with news right now. It does not cost much, but worth your attention.

Choose to support open, independent, quality journalism and subscribe on a monthly basis.

By subscribing to our online newspaper, you can have full digital access to all news, analysis, and much more.

Subscribe

You can also follow AzerNEWS on Twitter @AzerNewsAz or Facebook @AzerNewsNewspaper

Thank you!

Loading...
Latest See more