Trading
Hungarian Forint: A foggy forecast for forint exchange
The first half of the two-leg election in Hungary points to political status quo in the central European nation, but analysts point to significant likely volatility in the forint over the next few months.
There are no options benchmarks
The following is a case study of option volumes with delayed delivery, by Nasir Afaf, global head FX options, Commerzbank Corporates & Markets in London
Pressure likely for the greenback
The improvement in February's US trade data is likely to be short-lived. Deutsche Bank's strategy team continues to look for EUR/USD to grind higher over the course of the quarter. Is the deterioration of the US basic balance still a valid reason to sell…
MAS maintains forex policy
SINGAPORE – The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) maintained its stance of 'modest and gradual' appreciation at its semi-annual policy review last Tuesday.
Currency managers down in March
LONDON – Most currency funds had a tough time generating positive returns last month, indicates research from ABN Amro.
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.
A changing regime
Low-yielding currencies are set to make a comeback, writes Teis Knuthsen, head of FX and fixed-income research at Danske Bank in Copenhagen
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.