TOKYO, April 25 — The euro steadied against the US dollar today after renewed worries about a growth slowdown in Germany drove it to a 22-month low overnight, while the yen showed little reaction to a Bank of Japan policy decision.
The Japanese currency gave up a tad of its earlier gains against the US dollar after the BoJ announced it intends to keep interest rates very low for a prolonged period, committing to do so at least through around the spring of next year.
“The market reaction (to the BoJ) was barely noticeable,” said Yukio Ishizuki, senior currency strategist at Daiwa Securities. “There were already very few people who believed the Bank of Japan may be raising rates. It wasn't really about 2020,” he said.
The yen was last still up a fifth of a per cent on the day, at 111.99 yen per US dollar.
German business morale deteriorated in April, bucking expectations for a small improvement, a business index by the Munich-based Ifo economic institute showed yesterday, as trade tensions weighed on Europe's largest economy, leaving domestic demand to support slowing growth.
The greenback rallied to a 23-month high of 98.189 against a basket of key rivals overnight while gaining more than half a percent, largely propelled by the euro's weakness. The index last traded 0.15 per cent lower at 98.027.
“Yesterday's strength of the US dollar was exaggerated by the weakness in countries other than the US,” said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities.
“A big question is if the weakness in Australia and the euro area are temporary or not,” he said. “The main scenario is a recovery in the second half of this year in the euro area and other regions.”
The euro sat at US$1.1158, having suffered its biggest one-day loss against the dollar since early March when the European Central Bank pushed back plans for its first post-crisis interest rate hike.
The single currency also shed nearly 0.4 per cent against the yen overnight and was last trading at 125.02 yen.
The Australian dollar was largely unchanged at US$0.7019.
The Aussie had given up nearly 1.3 per cent during the previous session after weaker-than-expected Australian inflation numbers heightened the prospect of an interest rate cut.
The Canadian dollar was a tad stronger at C$1.3487 to the greenback, edging off a four-month low hit overnight as investors raised bets on a Bank of Canada interest rate cut this year after the central bank slashed its economic growth outlook.
Market participants awaited policy decisions by the Swedish and Turkish central banks later today.
Sweden's Riksbank is likely to keep its benchmark rate unchanged and may be forced to delay plans to tighten policy later in 2019, a Reuters poll of analysts published on Tuesday showed.
“The Riksbank may push further out the timing of the next rate hike, and also the market may speculate it's too early for a rate cut by the Turkish central bank,” said Mizuho's Yamamoto.
“That could be a negative for these currencies and positive for the US dollar.” — Reuters
