Trading
Knight Capital completes HotspotFXi acquisition
JERSEY CITY, NJ – Knight Capital Group last week completed the acquisition of Hotspot FX in an all-cash deal for $77.5 million.
Defrosting the myths
The risk of an Icelandic crisis and its impact on other high-yielding currencies has been strongly exaggerated, says Beat Siegenthaler, senior strategist at TD Securities in London
Reuters to calculate official spot rate
HONG KONG – Reuters is to be the official exclusive calculator and distributor of the benchmark spot US dollar/Hong Kong dollar fixing rate. This new official spot USD/HKD fixing is owned and administrated by Treasury Markets Association (TMA) in Hong…
No change is good news for forecasters
Investors Bank & Trust (IB&T) has moved into the top five of every forecast category, making it the most consistently accurate forecaster across the board so far in 2006.
JP Morgan hit by sales departures
NEW YORK & LONDON – JP Morgan's FX sales operation has been hit by a number of departures including a number of defections to Merrill Lynch.
China's forex reserves exceed Japan's
BEIJING – CHINA, with $853.7 billion in FX reserves, has surpassed Japan's long-held status as the world's largest holder of foreign exchange reserves, state media reported last week.
SEB paints bright US economic picture
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) maintains the bullish dollar view that has seen it remain at the top of the one-month historical table since February 6. It has held a positive view on US economic growth despite EUR/USD depreciation of nearly 10% over…
The end of emerging market exuberance?
A plunge in high-yield currencies has triggered concerns that global investors had become too lax in their evaluation of emerging market risk, but Caroline Blyth, emerging market manager at Informa Global Markets, says the likelihood of a serious…
Currency trading for DGCX
DUBAI – The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) is set to launch currency futures trading in coming months – the first such products to be made available in the Middle East.
A Russian revolution
Jurye Pimenov , senior FX dealer at the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, and Igor Souzdaltsev , project manager in financial markets at Investsberbank in Moscow, analyse the Russian rouble's strength and its recent comeback after the financial…
India looks to capital account convertibility
MUMBAI – Indian authorities took a step towards further FX liberalisation last week, by forming a committee to establish a framework for fuller capital account convertibility.
Greenback revival draws to a close
The US dollar is unlikely to see a repeat performance of the strong gains made in 2005 this year, said Jeff Cooper, vice-president, FX, at Bank of Montreal (BMo) in Toronto.
April – a perfect storm for Asian FX?
Investors could profit from the prospect of an unusually volatile month for the normally low-vol USD/SGD. Sean Callow , senior currency strategist at Westpac Institutional Bank in Singapore, explains how this can be achieved
Trading FX implied volatility
How frequently does one need to hedge to effectively trade implied volatility? Duncan Farnsworth , head of risk analytics in the currency structuring group at the Royal Bank of Scotland in London, offers a solution
Talks mount over FXall buyer
NEW YORK – FXall has agreed to sell a 20% stake to private equity firm Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), based on an overall valuation of $300 million for the company, say sources.
Bullish US dollar stance pays off
HBoS Treasury Services tops this week's 12-month forecast rankings, owing to a bullish stance on the US dollar the bank has held since early 2005.
Talks mount over FXall buyer
NEW YORK – FXall has agreed to sell a 20% stake to private equity firm Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), based on an overall valuation of $300 million for the company, say sources.
Calyon points to cyclical factors
LONDON – French bank Calyon has cemented its top five position in all three historical tables by maintaining its year-long view that cyclical factors are the dominant driving factor for currencies.
Reuters adds trading service for exchanges
LONDON – Reuters last week entered the exchange-traded space with an offering that enables the buy side to execute trades on exchange products with brokers from a single screen.
EBS pushes into emerging markets
BEIJING – Global trading platform and data provider EBS is making inroads into the emerging markets arena with the roll-out of its data service in China and the introduction of its prime brokerage platform in eastern Europe.
Not too late to sell the Swedish krona
As the short-term interest rate spread between the eurozone and Sweden increases, we are likely to see further depreciation of the krona, writes Henrik Degrér , senior portfolio strategist of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB)
HSBC FX revenues rise
LONDON – HSBC ended 2005 with a 6% rise in revenue from foreign exchange over the previous year, with the bank benefiting from increased interest in emerging markets.
Is risk adequately priced?
An end to carry plays on high-yield emerging currencies would create volatility in FX markets and potential flight to safe-haven assets. Sharada Selvanathan , currency strategist at BNP Paribas in Singapore, suggests a basket to benefit from this