The European currencies declined on Tuesday. The euro fell by 0.24% to $1.1013. Traders are waiting for new data, which will likely show a rise in German unemployment. The Swiss franc also declined against the U.S. dollar to 0.9610, following a 0.8% loss on Monday.
Meanwhile, the sterling lowered by 0.71% to $1.2331. It also slid by 0.5% to 89.34 pence against the euro. Bulls are waiting for the release of U.K. gross domestic product. Sovereign rating downgrade continues to weigh on the pound, highlighting the strain on public finances from a much needed massive fiscal stimulus.
What about the Asian currencies?
The Chinese Yuan was steady at 7.0977 against the dollar in the onshore market on Tuesday. The last reports showed that China’s manufacturing returned to growth in March. But investors are still skeptical as the pandemic continues.
Yukio Ishizuki, the FX strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo, stated that even if there is some decent data from China, experts can’t be optimistic, as the economic activity in many countries is under lockdown.
On the other hand, the Japanese Yen fell against the U.S. dollar by 0.69% in Asia. As the global coronavirus crisis shows no signs of abating, the sentiment remains fragile, even though the Japanese investors and companies tried to cover a shortage of U.S. currency before their fiscal year-end.
Tuesday was the end of the quarter for major investors worldwide, as well as the last trading data for Japan’s fiscal year. Experts warned that it could lead to some volatile swings as big players in the currency market were closing their books yesterday.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand dollar declined after the country’s government extended a nationwide state of emergency for another week to slow the spread of the coronavirus. However, the kiwi regained its composure shortly to trade steady at $0.6029. The Aussie also held its ground at $0.6174.
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