020 7898 0500The market patterns we saw emerging on Monday continued yesterday, with the sanctions imposed on Russia, specifically by the US, being relatively mild. The news eased concerns of a standoff between Russia and the US, which looked increasingly likely towards the end of last week. As a result, emerging market stocks advanced by the most in a month, which boosted their respective currencies, with the South African rand, Turkish lira, and Indian rupee carrying through the strength they showed on Monday into yesterday. Conversely, the traditionally safe-haven Japanese yen continued to be pegged back from the gains it achieved last week, as the global appetite for risk increased. The news also saw the Russian rouble advance for the second day in a row.
Elsewhere, the Hungarian forint was the big mover following a decision from the central bank to cut interest rates to a record low, causing the currency to lose ground against the majority of its most-traded peers. Although the move was forecasted by a number of economists, the rate cut had not been fully priced into the market, and as a result we saw a negative forint shift following the announcement.
Overnight last night we had business confidence figures from New Zealand and a press conference from the Bank of Japan, and later today we have GDP figures from Canada.
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