Swedish crown hits six-and-half-year low on bets for more easing
Euro, Hong Kong dollar, U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, British pound and Chinese 100-yuan banknotes are seen in a picture illustration shot January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Jason Lee/Illustration/File Photo
By Jemima Kelly
LONDON (Reuters) - Sweden's crown hit a 6-1/2-year low against the euro on Thursday, after the central bank said the chances of another interest rate cut had increased and it was ready to expand its quantitative easing program further.
The Riksbank has already slashed rates to -0.5 percent, and is on track to buy 40 percent of the stock of outstanding government bonds by year end. But inflation remains subdued and the central bank said it would take longer to hit its target than previously expected.
The crown initially rose after the announcement, as traders reacted to interest rates being left unchanged and the central bank's saying it saw the repo rate averaging -0.5 percent in the fourth quarter, slightly above a prior forecast of -0.52 percent.
But it then fell sharply, losing 0.8 percent on the day to trade at 9.8000 crowns per euro
"The tone of the statement was rather dovish," said ING currency strategist Petr Krpata, in London. "Although no QE extension was announced today, the statement sent a strong hint ... at more."
The dollar traded close to a three-month high against the yen, underpinned by higher U.S. bond yields and growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by the end of the year.
The market is now pricing in a 78 percent chance that the Fed will raise rates at its December meeting, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool, following a series of hawkish comments from Fed policymakers.
Those expectations have driven the dollar to nine-month highs against a basket of currencies <.DXY> this week. Higher 10-year U.S. Treasury yields
"We're seeing a renewed pick-up in Fed rate hike expectations, which will likely intensify going into the November Fed meeting next week," Credit Agricole's head of G10 currency research, Valentin Marinov, said.
"We will be looking for an explicit indication in the statement that rates will be going higher in December."
Marinov said that the dollar was also being supported by a pick-up in corporate demand for dollar funding into the end of the year.
Against the yen, the greenback rose 0.2 percent to 104.65
Norway's crown rose around half a percent after the central bank left interest rates unchanged and signaled that they would remain at their current levels in the period ahead. Against its Swedish counterpart, it climbed 1.5 percent to a its strongest since June 2015
(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!
You May Also Be Interested In
- Asia FX sees some relief as dollar retreats, yen at 34-year lows
- Macron aims to cement French influence in EU, lift party fortunes with landmark speech
- Macron aims to cement French influence in EU, lift party fortunes with landmark speech
Create E-mail Alert Related Categories
Forex, ReutersRelated Entities
Credit AgricoleSign up for StreetInsider Free!
Receive full access to all new and archived articles, unlimited portfolio tracking, e-mail alerts, custom newswires and RSS feeds - and more!