Forex 100 Rates

The South African rand extended its gains today for the third day against the US dollar as the favorable economic data from the US signaled that the recovery is underway and improved the risk sentiment among the global investors.

The risk appetite increased after the reports from the US showed that the pending home sales unexpectedly surged, while the number of the claims for the jobless benefits decreased more than predicted. The rand gained 1.3 percent this week. The rally may end today if the reports about the US employment would be negative, as many analysts expect.

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The South Korean won appreciated today as the concerns for the economic growth eased, boosting the outlook for South Korea’s economy and increasing chances that the central bank will raise the interest rates.

The nation’s gross domestic product expanded 1.4 percent in the second quarter of 2010, almost matching the forecast value of 1.5 percent. The stable growth allowed the International Monetary Fund to raise the growth forecast to 6.1 percent for the current year. The favorable fundamentals also spurred the investors to bet that the Bank of Korea would increase the rates on the next meeting of its policy makers.

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The Chinese yuan appreciated today as the macroeconomic data signaled about the worldwide economic growth and after the central bank set the daily reference rate higher in response to the dollar’s declines.

The China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index went up to 51.7 in August from 51.2 in the previous month. The median estimate of the experts was 51.5. The Dollar Index, which monitors the greenback’s performance versus the six major currencies, slumped the most in six weeks yesterday. Reacting to this decline the People’s Bank of China raised the reference rate by 0.18 percent to 6.8003 per dollar. That was the biggest increase since July 2nd.

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The Chilean peso rose today as the outlook for the exports of the raw materials improved after the US and China reported about the better-than-expected growth of the manufacturing.

The MSCI World Index of stocks climbed as much as 2.8 percent after the US ISM PMI advanced from 55.5 to 56.3 in August. December delivery for copper, the main export of Chile, rose 3.3 percent to $3.481 per pound on the COMEX.

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The South African rand rebounded today from the monthly low after the local manufacturing expanded for the first time in three months and as the economic data from Asia was better than expected.

The South African seasonally adjusted purchasing managers’ index rose to 50.3 in August, from 49.5 in July. The reading above 50 indicates the growth. The manufacturing accounts for about 15 percent of the nation’s economy.

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The Thai baht strengthened today, showing this month the best performance since February 2008, after the central bank raised the borrowing costs and as the pace of the nation’s economic growth was the fastest in 15 years.

The Bank of Thailand raised the borrowing costs last week for the second time this year. The policy makers suggested that the rates remain “very low compared to the economic growth even after the increase”. The nation’s gross domestic product grew 9.1 percent in the second quarter of this year, following the increase by 12 percent in the previous three months. The good fundamentals attracted more foreign investors to Thailand, resulting in the inflows into the stocks and the bonds and making another rates hike possible.
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The Japanese yen gave up some of its recently conquered positions against the other major currencies as the investors continued to hold their bets on the monetary intervention in Japan.

Currency intervention looks to be a nice reasons for the Forex traders to fixate their long-term profit from the short USD/JPY, EUR/JPY positions. For the scalpers, it’s also a good opportunity to profit from the short-term speculative movements. The yen rose for the third day against the British pound today.

USD/JPY increased from 84.46 to 84.65 as of 10:48 GMT today. EUR/JPY rose from 107.40 to 107.69, while GBP/JPY went up from 131.10 to 131.31.

If you want to comment on the Japanese yen’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.

Both Australian and New Zealand currencies benefited from the speculations that the Japanese authorities will have to use currency intervention to hold down the yen’s growth.

The Aussie and kiwi gained also as the Asian stock markets demonstrated a growth today following days of decline (as a result of the global macroeconomic situation). The currencies were rising yesterday when the Japan’s officials commented on the inappropriate growth of the yen. They were both in the downtrend since the beginning of the month.

AUD/USD rose from 0.8851 to 0.8871 as of 8:23 GMT today. AUD/JPY went up from 74.87 to 75.12, while NZD/USD increased from 0.7021 to 0.7035

If you want to comment on the Australian and the New Zealand dollars’ recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.

The euro continued its recovery trend against the dollar and the yen today as some more-or-less positive news spurred the growth of the stock market up from its bottom.

Positive profit reports of the biggest European companies inspired investors to buy the stocks today. The euro managed to grow against the safe haven dollar and yen for the second day, setting a new weekly maximum. Traders also reacted to the US jobless claims report, which wasn’t as bad as the previous one and didn’t disappoint the market participants.

The analysts say that the Q2 reports are good but the currency market is valuing the future and thus the Q3 reports and their expectations are more important. Nevertheless, today’s news managed to move the stocks up and didn’t allow the EUR/USD to fall down through the important support level of 1.2640. But the next few days may prove hard for the Eurozone’s currency.

EUR/USD rose from 1.2663 to 1.2703 as of 16:41 GMT today after setting a daily high at 1.2764. EUR/JPY went up from 107.12 to 107.57 and EUR/GBP retreated from 0.8183 to 0.8155.

Dollar Weakens for Sixth Week vs. Euro, Falls vs. Pound & Yen

The dollar extended its losses against other currencies as macroeconomic practice to continue to believe that the recovery is fragile and the United States an additional incentive may be required.

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