Foreign Exchange News

NEW YORK (AFX) - Stocks were narrowly mixed in quiet trading Friday as investors appeared to be awaiting further signs about the health of the economy. Falling oil prices and a contract win for Boeing Co. offered some support for stocks. Energy and materials stocks were mostly weaker Friday, while utilities and financials fared better and generally moved higher. The muted trading Friday follo ...

NEW YORK (AFX) - Stocks were narrowly mixed Friday as oil prices fell and after Boeing Co. won a contract to build U.S. Air Force helicopters. Light, sweet crude was down 71 cents at $60.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the International Energy Agency lowered its forecast for worldwide demand this year. The muted trading Friday comes a day after stocks saw a modest sell- ...

LONDON (AFX) - The dollar edged up slightly against major currencies after falling sharply overnight as the market took a breather ahead of key US inflation data next week. The market is also keeping a close eye on today's European Central Bank conference, with some key speakers scheduled to comment, including ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. The dolla ...

LONDON (AFX) - European government bonds were higher after some weak data out of France weighed on interest rate expectations in the 12-nation single currency area. French GDP slowed abruptly in the third quarter, showing no change at all from the previous three months when 1.2 pct growth was recorded. Economists polled by AFX News had expected a rise of 0.5 pct in the period. Meanwhile, industri ...

(Amending headline) LONDON (AFX) - European government bonds were higher after some weak data out of France weighed on interest rate expectations in the 12-nation single currency area. French GDP slowed abruptly in the third quarter, showing no change at all from the previous three months when 1.2 pct growth was recorded. Economists polled by AFX News had expected a rise of 0.5 pct in the period ...

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AFX) - Slovakia's annual inflation rate fell in October following a fall in energy prices, increasing the country's chances of adopting the euro currency in 2009 as planned, the Slovak Statistical Office said Friday. October's inflation rate dropped to 3.7 percent from 4.6 percent in September, it said. Consumer prices rose a 0.2 percent after a 0.3 percent decline in Septem ...

LONDON (AFX) - The dollar was sharply lower across the board, continuing last night's losses in the wake of comments by People's Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan suggesting that the country plans further diversification of its currency reserves. Reports emerged last night quoting Zhou confirming that the central bank has plans to diversify its assets into "many instruments". The n ...

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - The yuan posted a fresh closing high of 7.8645 to the US dollar on the the over-the-counter (OTC) market, compared with 7.8665 yesterday. On the exchange-traded market, the yuan close at 7.8663, compared to 7.8665 yesterday. The intraday high was 7.8633 in both markets, according to a Guangdong-based trader. The currency traded between 7.8667-7.8633 on the OTC market, and b ...

FRANKFURT (AFX) - People's Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan said China is not planning to accelerate the diversification of its currency reserves. "We stick to the existing policy," Zhou told reporters on the sidelines of a European Central Bank conference. "We have many years of currency diversification policy," he said. The dollar fell yesterday when Zhou was reported ...

SINGAPORE (XFN-ASIA) - The US dollar marked further losses in afternoon trade here, staying near early lows on fears of China diversifying its nearly 1 trln usd foreign exchange reserves and after Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui warned on carry trade unwinding, dealers said. At 3.37 pm here, the US dollar was trading at 117.53 yen, down from 117.88 at 2227 GMT in Sydney Thursday, while the ...