Foreign Exchange News

Holiday foreign exchange is a licence for many providers to print money. Foreign currency loadings, commissions, withdrawal fees and transaction charges are just some of the stratagems dreamt up by card and currency providers to relieve you of large amounts of cash. // Withdraw £1,000 of currency though a foreign cashpoint, and Lloyds credit card holders get stung for £47.50 of charges – 2.75 per ...

European Union leaders have confirmed Slovenia's adoption of the euro, the first of the trade bloc's new members to take up the currency. Slovenia is now clear to join the twelve-member eurozone on 1 January 2007. Slovenia has met eurozone criteria for public debt, budget deficit, interest rates and the rate of inflation. Slovenia was one of 10 new EU members that joined on 1 May, 2004. The decision will now be rubber-stamped at a meeting on 11 July More soon.

By Krishna Guha in Washington and Victor Mallet in Tokyo Published: June 16 2006 00:01 | Last updated: June 16 2006 00:01The US on Thursday signalled it would not fight efforts to create an Asian currency unit, turning the page on over a decade of largely consistent opposition to Asian monetary integration. // US officials said the move is intended to show that the US does not fear greater monetary co-operation between Asia’s rising economic powers and wants to play a constructive role in helpi ...

Foreign inflows into US markets fell to their lowest level in a year in April, according to Treasury data that supported a widely held market belief in the dollar’s long-term downtrend. // The greenback has rallied as investors have brought funds home amid global worries about tighter monetary conditions. But Thursday’s data showed that the dollar’s April slide was less the result of short-term s ...

Mounting tension between east and western Europe will surface at a European Union summit in Brussels On Friday, amid suspicions among some new members that they are being treated as second class citizens. // Countries from the former Soviet bloc are growing frustrated at obstacles blocking their path to core European projects such as the euro, the Schengen free-travel area and the right to work in all member states. On Friday Lithuania’s president, Valdas Adamkus, will win support from other e ...

The US dollar lost ground for a second session as portfolio inflows into the US disappointed and rising interest rate expectations appeared to lose their ability to support the greenback. // The US Treasury reported that net inflows into US assets of more than one-year duration totalled just $46.7bn in April, the lowest figure for a year. This was not only below March inflows of $70.4bn and consensus forecasts for a reading of $60bn plus, it was also insufficient to cover April’s trade deficit  ...

European Union leaders are expected to confirm Slovenia's adoption of the euro during a two-day summit in Brussels. It is due to join the twelve-member eurozone on 1 January 2007, the first of the 10 new EU members to do so. Slovenia has met eurozone criteria for public debt, budget deficit and interest rates and said inflation would remain below the eurozone benchmark. Lithuania's application for euro membership was rejected because its inflation rate was too high. Euros for tolars The eur ...

By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Holiday firm MyTravel Group (MT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday the World Cup had hit summer sales but hoped to see a rebound and was confident of achieving its full-year targets despite rising fuel and currency costs. MyTravel said loss before tax was 70.3 million pounds for the six months to April 30, compared to a loss of 119.5 million pounds a year ago, while the group operating loss narrowed to 75.8 million pounds from 97.1 million in H1 200 ...

By Steve JohnsonPublished: June 11 2006 19:59 | Last updated: June 11 2006 19:59Share prices have been falling in recent weeks because investors have become more nervous about risky assets. not because the outlook for companies has worsened, according to the Bank for International Settlements, the co-ordinating bank for the world’s central banks. // The ongoing turmoil in global financial markets ...

| BIS says asset risk worries have caused markets to fallBy Steve JohnsonPublished: June 11 2006 19:59 | Last updated: June 11 2006 19:59Share prices have been falling in recent weeks because investors have become more nervous about risky assets. not because the outlook for companies has worsened, according to the Bank for International Settlements, the co-ordinating bank for the world’s central b ...