Rouble steady after Putin speech CEE currencies await ECB meeting EM stocks recover slightly
April 22 (Reuters) - Turkey’s lira was headed for its worst day this month as concerns over financial stability grew, while other emerging market currencies were encouraged by a weaker dollar, although surging COVID-19 cases capped gains.
The lira dropped as much as 2.3% to 8.3669 to the dollar, leading losses across emerging market (EM) currencies in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). It had tumbled nearly 1% on Wednesday after President Tayyip Erdogan defended a costly FX sales policy.
Erdogan’s unorthodox stance, that high interest rates cause inflation, has cast doubts over the country’s financial stability and spurred large losses in the lira.
Pope Francis will visit crisis-hit Lebanon but only once its fractious politicians can agree on a new government, Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri said during a visit to the Vatican on Thursday.
By Reuters Staff
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Service members of the Russian airborne forces board an Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane during drills at a military aerodrome in the Azov Sea port of Taganrog, Russia April 22, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia ordered its top army command to begin returning troops to their permanent bases inside the country from Friday, saying it had successfully completed a “snap inspection” of forces in its south and west, near the border with Ukraine, the RIA news agency reported.
The announcement prompted the rouble to rise sharply, following weeks of tensions with the West over a major Russian military buildup near Ukraine.
By Reuters Staff
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JOHANNESBURG, April 22 (Reuters) - South Africa’s lending rate remains accommodative and sufficient to support an economic recovery, central bank governor Lesetja Kganyago said on Thursday, adding that the bank would keep targeting inflation to keep foreign investors happy.
“The interest rate differential that matters for capital flows isn’t the differential of the policy rate. What matters is the differential of the bond yields, and South African bond yields are still significantly higher than those is in the U.S and in real terms,” Kganyago said during a live webinar.
“That is an attraction for investors,” Kganyago said.
Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh Graphic: Trade-weighted sterling since Brexit vote tmsnrt.rs/2hwV9Hv (Updates to add CBI data, updates prices, adds chart)
LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - Sterling slipped on Thursday in quiet currency market trade ahead of a European Central Bank meeting, while investors weighed up the outlook for an economic recovery from COVID-19 in the UK.
After a short squeeze at the start of April, the pound has strengthened against the dollar in recent weeks - a move which Kenneth Broux, FX strategist at Societe Generale said was driven by U.S. Treasury yields coming down from their recent highs, which prompted the dollar to weaken.