020 7898 0500Japanese yen benefits from safe haven status
We saw a risk-off yesterday after a poor weekend in the global stock market, raising concerns about international economic growth. As a result, we saw demand rise for safe-haven assets on what was quite a frantic Monday morning in the currency market, with the traditional haven Japanese yen strengthening to three-month highs.
The anomaly yesterday was the Indian rupee, which in a risk-averse market would usually perform badly. After election results showed a landslide victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party the rupee jumped to 11-month highs as the clearest election results in three decades boosted confidence in the Indian market. Elsewhere, the Russian rouble strengthened, building upon last week’s gains following the announcement that Vladimir Putin ordered the withdrawal of troops from the Ukrainian border back to base, signalling further easing of tensions in the region prior to the presidential election in six days. The Swedish krona lost ground following worse-than-forecast employment figures. Overnight last night we had monetary policy meeting minutes from Australia, and later today we have wholesale sales figures from Canada.
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