AGL 40.20 Decreased By ▼ -1.30 (-3.13%)
AIRLINK 129.11 Increased By ▲ 1.11 (0.87%)
BOP 6.60 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (5.43%)
CNERGY 4.03 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-2.42%)
DCL 8.45 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.12%)
DFML 41.25 Increased By ▲ 0.56 (1.38%)
DGKC 87.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.90 (-1.02%)
FCCL 33.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.75 (-2.2%)
FFBL 65.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.43 (-0.65%)
FFL 10.54 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.19%)
HUBC 110.70 Increased By ▲ 2.00 (1.84%)
HUMNL 15.23 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (5.33%)
KEL 4.78 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (2.8%)
KOSM 7.83 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (6.82%)
MLCF 41.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.82 (-1.92%)
NBP 60.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-0.56%)
OGDC 182.80 Increased By ▲ 3.83 (2.14%)
PAEL 25.36 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-1.32%)
PIBTL 6.26 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (3.3%)
PPL 147.81 Increased By ▲ 1.66 (1.14%)
PRL 24.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.35 (-1.41%)
PTC 16.24 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.62%)
SEARL 70.50 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (0.43%)
TELE 7.30 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.11%)
TOMCL 36.30 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.28%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.13%)
TREET 15.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.29 (-1.86%)
TRG 51.70 Increased By ▲ 1.34 (2.66%)
UNITY 27.35 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (1.67%)
WTL 1.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.81%)
BR100 9,842 Increased By 47.4 (0.48%)
BR30 30,036 Increased By 389.6 (1.31%)
KSE100 92,520 Increased By 499.1 (0.54%)
KSE30 28,786 Increased By 121.7 (0.42%)

The euro eased on Wednesday to take a breather from a rally prompted by optimism over the euro zone's economy and expectations the European Central Bank will wind down its bond-buying stimulus in 2018. The euro slipped 0.1 percent to $1.2048. The currency hit a four-month high of $1.2081 on Tuesday, marking a gain of roughly 3 percent from a mid-December trough and bringing it close to a September high of $1.2092, the currency's highest level since early 2015.
It was boosted by data showing euro zone manufacturers ended 2017 by ramping up activity at the fastest pace in more than two decades as rising demand suggested they will start the new year on a high. The euro was also supported by expectations for a shift in ECB monetary policy this year.
The ECB board member in charge of the central bank's market operations, Benoit Coeure, said at the weekend that he saw a "reasonable chance" bond purchases would not be extended beyond September. ECB rate-setter Ewald Nowotny told a German newspaper in an interview that the ECB may end its stimulus programme this year if the euro zone economy continued to grow strongly.
"It's this monetary policy normalisation everywhere that's playing catch-up to the Fed, and that's why the dollar is weak," said Heng Koon How, head of market strategy for United Overseas Bank in Singapore. The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies held steady at 91.902, having pulled up from Tuesday's 3-1/2 month low of 91.751.
Later on Wednesday, investors will turn their attention to the minutes of the Federal Reserve's December policy meeting, when it raised interest rates for the third time in 2017. Further cues are likely from US economic data this week, including jobs figures on Friday.
"One key is whether the Fed minutes and US jobs data will prompt the US 10-year bond yield to clearly rise above 2.5 percent," said Teppei Ino, an analyst for Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in Singapore, which would boost the dollar. The US 10-year Treasury yield was 2.465 percent at the close of US trade on Tuesday, below a nine-month high of 2.504 percent on December 21. Commodity-linked currencies took a breather from a rally spurred in recent weeks by higher metal and oil prices. The Canadian dollar last stood at C$1.2521 per US dollar. It briefly rose to C$1.2500 early on Wednesday, matching Tuesday's peak and its highest level since October 20.

Copyright Reuters, 2018

Comments

Comments are closed.