Trading
Strategists’ role in prop trading under focus in choppy markets
NEW YORK -- Choppy markets are highlighting the difficulties of accurately forecasting currency moves -- and no more so than for those banks with capital behind their strategists’ recommendations.
Aussie calls offer no worries hedge
Sara Sullivan, senior manager, FX options sales at ANZ Investment Bank in London, summarises an options solution for a corporate client concerned about a reversal of the AUD strength against the USD.
Further uncertainty grips market
LONDON -- FX markets breathed a sigh of relief last week as the war in Iraq got under way, but as one source of uncertainty was removed, another popped up.
War and the dollar
Near-term dollar direction will now depend on the length and ‘success’ of the war. But those factors are far from certain, says Jake Moore, FX strategist at Barclays Capital in Tokyo.
Dollar bloc upsurge boosts Australian forex turnover
SYDNEY -- Increasing interest in Australian dollar trading is boosting Australian banks’ forex turnover, senior market participants told FX Week .
BarCap lures top dealers
LONDON -- Barclays Capital is in the midst of an aggressive recruitment campaign in London and New York, targeting staff at the world’s top investment banks.
Goldman down, Bear Stearns up in Q1 forex
NEW YORK -- Goldman Sachs last week reported reduced forex revenues within its fixed-income, currency and commodities (FICC) division for Q1, although other US investment banks fared better.
ACI postpones Beirut meeting
BEIRUT -- The biennial meeting of the forex industry organised by ACI-The Financial Markets Association, has been postponed until September 10--14, the ACI announced last week.
ECB highlights dangers of over-concentrated market
FRANKFURT -- Market consolidation and a reliance on electronic trading could lead to an over-concentration of risk and liquidity among too few market participants, the European Central Bank has warned.
Rumours hit jumpy FX markets
LONDON -- FX markets starved of certainty saw some price movement last week, mostly on the back of unconfirmed rumours regarding the war in Iraq.
Sterling caught in the middle
The relationship between sterling/dollar and euro/dollar has broken down since the start of the year, resulting in sterling’s recent under-performance, says Lena Komileva (right), EMEA economist at Prebon Marshall Yamane in London.
Forex downturn hits US wages
NEW YORK -- Market stagnation has resulted in near flat foreign exchange wages for dealers in the US, with senior managers receiving increases less than the yearly inflation rate, according to a report made public earlier this month.
Tullett launches global Swapmarker
LONDON -- Tullett Financial Information, a subsidiary of brokerage firm Tullett, last week released a global version of Swapmarker, its capital markets data product.
Real-life problems, innovative solutions
Options for euro-sceptics
Verdict due on Beirut meeting
BEIRUT -- The fate of the global forex industry’s biennial meeting, due to take place in Beirut in just two months, will be decided on March 17.
After feast comes famine for the dollar
The US dollar may have been feasting on inflowing money in recent years but, says Pete Luxton, global economic adviser at MMS International in London, it is now going hungry
Vol surge expected from east Europe
WARSAW -- Political events in countries slated to join the European Union and the euro are set to trigger a wave of FX volatility in emerging European countries, market participants told FX Week .
Zar Amrolia quits Goldman
LONDON -- Former global head of FX sales at Goldman Sachs, Zar Amrolia, has left the bank after a series of job changes divested him of some of his forex responsibilities.
RBS FiXes benchmarks with EBS
LONDON -- The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has gone live with a new benchmark engine for spot and forwards FX rates, called RBSFiX.
Emerging markets boost HSBC’s profits
LONDON -- A strong performance in emerging markets FX helped HSBC to its biggest-ever yearly forex profits, an official said last week. The bank made $1.17 billion from forex in 2002, up by 4% from $1.12 billion the year before. Based on banks’ financial…
Asian forex still untapped
SINAGPORE -- Five years on from the Asian financial crisis, FX trading opportunities in the region remain largely untapped, market participants told FX Week .
Rand reverses 2001 downtrend
JOHANNESBURG -- Interest rate yields, gold prices and a budget announcement powered the South African rand to a 20-month high against the dollar last week.
Local presence vital for LatAm FX success
BUENOS AIRES -- Banks in Europe may be centralising FX trading activity in one regional centre, but the opposite is required in Latin America, senior bankers told FX Week .