| Zimbabwe: Forex Shortage Cripples Livestock Breeders
A SHORTAGE of dipping chemicals has crippled the livestock breeding industry in the country, with market players saying the foreign currency crisis had hampered the import of the chemicals. The situation has become so dire that many farmers in the cattle breeding industry were losing a large number of beasts due to diseases that could easily be eliminated with dipping. .
London Leads NY as Foreign Exchange
London extended its lead over New York as the world's biggest center for currency trading in the six months through October, according to central bank surveys. Trading grew to an average $1.06 trillion a day in London during October, up 6% from April, and shrank 7.5% in New York to $534 billion in the period, semi-annual surveys conducted by the Bank of England and Federal Reserve showed. " London has always been the centre of foreign-exchange," a currency strategist in London at BNP Paribas SA, Ian Stannard, said. "It's continuing to grow." A growing share of the city's volume is from currencies other than the euro and dollar as eastern Europe economies expand and investors take advantage of Japan's low interest rates to sell yen and seek higher yields elsewhere.
Rand softer, seen stuck in ranges
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand was slightly weaker against the dollar on Friday, giving up overnight gains prompted by a firmer euro after news that the European Union may hike interest rates in March. The rand was trading at 7.15 versus the dollar at 0643 GMT, from its New York close of 7.1385 on Thursday. With little impetus seen to inspire movements either way, traders said the rand would likely trade in narrow ranges in the session. "We've been stuck in the 7.14 - 7.20/dollar range for a while now. We don't expect much change going into MPC (monetary policy committee) next week," said a Johannesburg-based trader. Ten out of 16 economists polled by Reuters this week predicted the central bank would leave its key repo rate unchanged at a two-day meeting starting February 14, after hiking it by 200 basis points to 9 percent last year to curb inflation.
Forex Mid-Day Technical Report Market Remains Cautiously in Range ...
Dollar's consolidation against majors continue after better than expected consumer confidence data. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence index unexpectedly rose to 110.3 in Jan, beating expectation of 109.1. Prior month's index was also revised upward to 110.0. The index suggests that consumer optimism increased in Jan should be reflected in stronger consumer spending onwards. Reaction is muted as traders remain cautious ahead of more important economic events in the coming days including Q4 GDP, FOMC announcement, ISM Manufacturing Index as well the Non-Farm Payroll report. The Japanese yen and Swiss Franc remains pressured on carry trade theme. EUR/CHF surged to new record high of 1.6253 earlier today while USD/CHF continues to hover near to last week's high of 1.2563.
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