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February 6th, 2012
Wheat futures gained for the first time in three sessions on speculation that cold weather in France, Germany and Ukraine will damage dormant crops.
Temperatures reached minus 15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) in France’s Alsace and Lorraine regions yesterday, according to forecaster Meteo France. In northern Germany, where some fields lack a protective layer of snow, soil temperatures have dropped below minus 8 degrees Celsius, Deutscher Wetterdienst said. Cold weather in the Black Sea region also has hurt crops.
“There’s been a lot of talk about the cold in Europe and in Russia and Ukraine,” Larry Glenn, an analyst at Frontier Ag in Quinter, Kansas, said in a telephone interview. “Traders still remember two years ago when everything was OK, then they had a terrible harvest. They remember how much any loss to production can mean to prices if it comes out of Europe and the Black Sea area.”
Wheat futures for March delivery gained 1.2 percent to close at $6.685 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. The price, down 2 percent in the previous two sessions, has dropped 22 percent in the past 12 months.
Ukraine, the biggest grain grower in the Black Sea region after Russia, will need to replant at least half of its winter crops after freezing weather this week, Tetiana Adamenko, the head of agro-meteorology at the country’s national weather center, said on Feb. 3.
Damage known as winter kill caused by freezing weather will probably be average as snow cover protected some plants in parts of Bulgaria, where temperatures fell below minus 30 degrees Celsius, FCStone said in a report today.
The outlook for European soft wheat remains positive, and “there is little reason to believe that from a European perspective it will be greater than seasonal averages,” said Jaime Nolan-Miralles, an FCStone risk analyst.
- Tony C. Dreibus in London at Bloomberg.
February 9th, 2012
Gold futures climbed to the highest level of the day on Thursday, as the U.S. dollar weakened after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi confirmed reports that Greece had finally agreed on a package of austerity measures.
Gold futures on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, for April delivery traded at USD1,748.65 a troy ounce during early U.S. morning trade, gaining 1%.
It earlier rose by as much as 1.15% to trade at a session high of USD1,751.15 a troy ounce.
Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,712.65 a troy ounce, the low from February 7 and short-term resistance at USD1,754.65, Wednesday’s high.
According to government sources, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos declared that an agreement was reached and endorsed by the major Greek political parties on a set of new austerity measures needed in order to secure a second bailout package.
ECB President Draghi later confirmed the news at his press conference after the ECB’s policy meeting, in which it kept interest rates on hold at 1%.
“I got a call from the Prime Minister of Greece that an agreement has been reached and has been endorsed by the major parties,” Draghi said.
The news came only hours before a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels to discuss the Greek EUR130 billion bailout.
The news helped lift the euro to an eight-week high against the U.S. dollar, while the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, declined 0.26% to trade at 78.51.
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November 18th, 2011
The euro rose against the dollar, as a dearth of negative news about Europe’s debt troubles helped stabilize the common currency.
Newly-appointed Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti won a parliamentary confidence vote that gave him a broad mandate for economic reform. That helped drive Italy’s bond yields back below 7%, the psychologically-charged level where Greece and Portugal were once forced to seek international assistance.
Italy’s roughly EUR2 trillion debt is widely viewed in the market as too big to rescue, and the euro had dropped sharply when the 7% yield was first reached last week.
Late Friday, the euro was at $1.3522 from $1.3456 a day earlier, according to EBS via CQG.
The common currency was supported by speculation that the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund might find a way to collaborate in order to backstop Italy. Neither institution would confirm, but the idea appears to be gaining traction, analysts said.
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November 18th, 2011
The euro rose Friday against the dollar in Asia on short-covering but the gains were later pared as underlying sentiment for the single currency remains weak, with a rise in borrowing costs for Spain and France casting doubts over Europe’s efforts to contain the sovereign debt crisis anytime soon.
The euro briefly rose above $1.3500 partly as uncertainty about whether the U.S. will reach an agreement on cutting its fiscal deficit next week prompted some traders to sell dollars against the euro. But the euro failed to sustain the rally. At 0450 GMT, the euro was at $1.3478 from $1.3456 late Thursday in New York, according to EBS. It was at Y103.59 from Y103.60.
“Further falls in the euro could be unavoidable,” Hirotsugu Inoue, executive director of foreign exchange at UBS in Tokyo. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it falls to $1.300 in the next week or so,” he added.
At an auction to sell EUR3.563 billion of 10-year bonds Thursday, Spain was forced to pay an average yield of 6.975%–just below the 7% level at which Greece, Portugal and Ireland were forced to seek bailouts. France also issued a series of medium-term bonds, including EUR3.33 billion in July 2016 debt at 2.82%, up from 2.31% at the previous auction.
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November 17th, 2011
The euro recouped earlier losses Thursday in Asia as macro-focused hedge funds and other investors locked in profits from the single currency’s falls to fresh one-month lows versus the dollar and the yen, ahead of closely watched bond auctions in Spain and France later in the day.
The euro and other relatively risky assets fell earlier in the day following a Fitch Ratings Service report indicating that the threat of contagion spreading from the most indebted European countries to the rest of the region could leave the largest U.S. banks with exposure of about $50 billion.
The ratings firm said the net exposure–subtracting hedges–of the six largest U.S. banks is “manageable but not without financial costs.”
Selling of riskier assets such as the euro intensified after the Australian dollar broke its key support band around US$1.0050, inviting selling from commodity trading advisers and model funds, Tokyo dealers said.
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November 14th, 2011
Investors in the Middle East are increasingly seeking to gain from significant upsides in forex created by unprecedented currency volatility in the global market, according to ADS Securities. The Abu Dhabi-based forex and commodities trading platform has seen a rapid rise in forex trading volumes on its platform since it launched six months ago.
Highlighting ADS Securities’ participation, as one of the main sponsors, in the 9th Middle East Forex Expo, taking place in Abu Dhabi from 15-16 November, Claus Nikolajsen, Head of Sales, GCC and MENA, ADS Securities, said, “Forex is at the forefront of Middle East investors’ move away from a portfolio dominated by traditional asset classes like equity and real estate to a multi-asset investment portfolio. The rise in forex volumes on our platform has surpassed our own expectations.”
ADS Securities is playing an increasing role in shaping the forex marketplace in the region due to its ability to offer globally competitive prices and spreads combined. The regionally-based platform operates 24/6 and delivers services tailored to the individual needs of regional clients.
Commenting on the growing interest in forex trading in the region, Nikolajsen said, “More and more family offices and private investors in the region are prioritising forex investments and hedging in their portfolios while private wealth managers are increasingly looking to forex to widen their product range. The weakness of the US dollar has alerted businesses across the region to their exposure to currency risks and the need for sophisticated currency management.”
Increased forex trading is also being spurred by the growing adoption of algorithmic trading in the region, particularly high-frequency trading where a series of small trades executed in milliseconds take advantage of marginal price movements.
“As forex volumes grow, many investors in the Middle East are seeking greater control over price discovery and trade execution as well as globally competitive prices, which overseas-based platforms have not been able to provide. ADS Securities has created a regionally-based trading platform that provides businesses and investors in the Middle East exceptional control over their currency trading and the ability to benefit from market fluctuations. We work with some of the world’s largest and best known liquidity providers to offer clients market leading prices and spreads,” said Nikolajsen.
Notes and media contacts
- AMEinfo.
November 11th, 2010
The euro inched higher against the dollar in cautious pre-weekend European trading, as frazzled currency markets took heart Friday from political developments in Italy and Greece after a tumultuous week for traders.
But some analysts said the boost to the euro will likely be short-lived because the situation in the euro zone remains precarious and the economy is stalling.
In Greece, former European Central Bank vice president Lucas Papademos looks set to become prime minister, spurring hopes the cash-strapped country will finally be ready to receive the next slice of aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
That, together with an improved political picture in Italy where Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is due to stand down at the weekend, helped to patch up fragile investor sentiment across markets.
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