Rebates Forex

The Russian ruble has been appreciating for two straight days together with commodity prices. The U.S. and China has produced good numbers showing higher growth, higher employment and increased manufacturing, making demand for crude oil rise. However, this 2-day streak came to an end today, as the Greek crisis is the main worry of the forex market.

Tenuous markets made demand for crude oil decrease, thus negatively affecting the price of the Russian ruble. The crisis is in Europe dampens demand for raw materials, making demand for commodity based economies decrease. As oil prices fall, the demand for Russian rubles usually does as well.

Oil prices fell 60 points today, making the Russian ruble depreciate 20 basis points against the U.S. dollar and remain stable against a falling euro.

The South African rand was one of the currencies gaining in the forex market today. Investors demand for assets with higher yields increased, making currencies such as the U.S. dollar depreciate, as it is considered a safe currency with a stable yield. The South African currency, on the other hand, is a much riskier asset, as the currency tends to move together with commodity and stock markets.

The South African economy presented solid figures in both November and December last year, where the amount of borrowed capital increased over 6 percent each month. This, alongside positive news coming from the European region, specifically Greece, increased demand for the South African rand.

The South African currency appreciated 30 basis points against the U.S. dollar in the forex market. The total appreciation for the rand is now around 350 basis points, making it the best performing month in 12 months.

Actions and measures taken by the Federal Reserve are now showing results in the American economy. All signs are currently pointing to recovery, unemployment is steadily decreasing and the housing sector is finally brightening up. Now that the Fed’s bets seem to have been on point, other regions are setting similar policies.

While the Fed, headed by Ben Bernanke, was implementing stimulus packages a year ago, many economists critiqued the U.S.’s way of thinking. Now, however, when the results are in, the packages clearly created jobs and economic growth. Even with large spending, the Fed managed to retain high inflation levels as well.

The European Central Bank and individual countries in crisis are now setting up their own policies in similar fashions, in hopes of fighting a recession hiding behind the corner.

The South African Reserve Bank decided to keep their key interest rate at a record level to continue to simulate the domestic economy. The country’s inflation was lower than expected, creating room for the bank to keep a low interest rate. The current benchmark interest rate is 5.5 percent, and economists expect it to stay at that level the coming months.

Although the inflation rate did in fact increase less than expected, it is still far from the 3 percent level the South African Reserve Bank is aiming for. During December 2011, the inflation reached over 6 percent, twice the size of the aimed rate. However, South Africa has made it clear that the current global recession is a bigger threat than inflation at the moment, which is why they choose to focus more on increasing liquidity and stimulating the economy rather than trying to fight inflation.

The rand depreciated a lot during 2011 and the government is now focused on growing the South African economy to increase the value of their currency.

The South Korean won managed to keep appreciating today and reach a 7-day high point in the forex market. The South Korean Central Bank decided to keep liquidity costs at the same low level they have been since August 2011, which was much appreciated by traders and increased demand for the South Korean currency. In the same step, the country is hoping to control inflation rate to a three percent level.

The main reason the Central Bank decided to keep the low interest rate for borrowed capital is the continued threat of the European debt crisis. Even though the decision was expected by a lot of analysts and economists, it made the South Korean won appreciate.

The South Korean currency gained at the best level in the past 20 days, hitting 90 basis points against the U.S. dollar, which is just under a full percentage. Since Monday, the won has appreciated 130 basis points, making it the best level in 2012.

The U.S. dollar broke a record as it reached the highest point against the euro in the past 60 trading weeks. The U.S. is on its continuing streak of a strong and growing economy, the latest news being figures that showed a higher rate of employment and less unemployment. The report was significantly better than the average prediction made by economists, which made the U.S. dollar appreciate against the euro. This means that the U.S. dollar has been appreciating against the euro for five consecutive weeks, making it the best performing period in over 11 months.

The U.S. has lately conveyed the image of a strong a stable future for the country, raising hope in other markets as well. Europe, on other hand, are still showing no signs of a resolution to the debt crisis, which made the euro fall against almost all major currencies in the forex market. Some analysts are stating that the only reason the euro is on its current level is due to an increased appetite for risk anytime the U.S. economy performs. That is, whenever the U.S. shows signs of a strong economy, investors gain optimism and invest in riskier assets such as the euro.

The U.S. dollar gained 0.6 percent against the euro and a total of 0.1 percent against the Japanese yen after some initial gains and depreciation.

The dollar depreciated in the forex market today and reached the lowest level against the euro in fifteen days. The main reason is a healthy American economy showing increasing numbers in manufacturing. As the U.S. reports good figures investors predict that the global economy will benefit, which shifts their demand from the safety of the U.S. dollar to riskier assets.

Reports coming from the U.S. were higher than most analyst had predicted, which made the U.S. dollar weaken against most major currencies in the forex market. The main winners were New Zealand and Australia who witnessed appreciation in both their currencies and stock markets.

Apart from the U.S. economy showing signs of strength, both India and China announced better figures than economist had estimated. These reports further sparked demand for riskier assets.

Earlier yesterday the U.S. economy showed signs of a strong, growing future, which increased risk sentiment and gave rise to several Asian currencies and an overall boost in global stock markets. Europe has also gained momentum today and reaped the benefits of a strong U.S. economy

The euro appreciated 0.4 percent on the U.S. figures and the final decision Italy is about to make on the current Prime Minister’s 39 billion U.S. dollar plan to fix Italy’s balance sheet, which is estimated to be passed without any problems. The euro did not only gain against the U.S. dollar, but also against most of the major traded currencies in the forex market. European stocks also gained just under a percentage today.

Both the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen have been considered safe assets in a year full of volatility. As economies start to recover, the demand for safer assets will decrease, thus increasing demand for riskier assets.

The Canadian dollar has been very volatile lately, experiencing great gains and losses due to both positive and negative news impacting the Canadian economy. Last week, the currency fell over 2 percent mainly due to worries about the European debt crisis, which lowers demand for riskier assets such as the Canadian dollar. Meanwhile, this week, reports hit the market that Canadian figures have improved greatly and that the country reached higher sales figures than most analysts had predicted. As a result, the Canadian currency appreciated and bounced back from last weeks result.

There is, however, more negative news causing problems for Canada. The main concern right now is falling oil prices in the commodities market. Oil is one of the country’s main exports and a large income factor, especially oil exported to the U.S. Falling oil prices have also had a negative effect on the Canadian dollar, causing it to depreciate.

The future of the currency’s value still remains uncertain as the Canadian economy is closely linked to global economic growth, if the economy performs well, the currency appreciates, if not, it will continue to drop as it has done lately.

The euro almost hit a one-year low as it was briefly traded under the $1.30 mark. Currently, the euro is being traded on its lowest level in 90 days. Overall, the euro depreciated 2.5 percent against the U.S. dollar and witnessed losses against several other currencies as well. One of the more remarkable drops was 2.4 percent against the Japanese yen.

The main reason behind the latest dip is an announcement made by the rating agency Fitch, stating that France and several other European economies are on a close watch and eligible for credit downgrades. They claim that a solution for the European debt crisis is far from clear and that European countries are doing much less than is expected of them to deal with the crisis.

The U.S. dollar, on the other had, has been performing very well lately against most major currencies. The U.S. currency rose almost 2 percent against an index of the most traded currencies in the world.