Foreign Exchange News

German phone giant Deutsche Telekom has said its profits for 2007 will be lower than earlier estimated because of fierce competition in Germany. The euro's strength against the dollar is also expected to eat into earnings at the firm whose businesses also include T-mobile UK and T-Mobile USA. The firm said it expected profits of 19bn euros ($24.5bn; £12.5bn). It had earlier estimated it would earn between 19.7bn euros and 20.2bn euros in the year. The change was the result of "extre ...

NEW YORK (AFX) - Wall Street turned lower Friday after a pair of reports indicated the economy is growing at a faster-than-anticipated pace, raising the likelihood that the Federal Reserve won't cut interest rates anytime soon. The drop extends a triple-digit drop in the Dow Jones industrials from the previous session, when stocks had their worst performance so far this year. The decline was trig ...

LONDON (AFX) - The yen remained steady after being pushed onto the defensive overnight by relatively soft Japanese inflation data, which cast further doubt on the likelihood of a rate hike next month from the Bank of Japan. Figures showed that Japan's December core CPI rate decelerated to 0.1 pct on an annual basis from expectations of a second consecutive 0.2 pct rise. In addition, the measure, ...

(Updates with further details on monetary developments) FRANKFURT (AFX) - Euro zone M3 money supply in December grew at a rate of 9.7 pct year-on-year, up from the 9.3 pct growth rate in November, the European Central Bank said. Economists polled by AFX News had forecast a more modest acceleration in M3 growth in December to 9.4 pct. Average M3 annual growth over the October-December period was ...

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - Seiko Epson Corp, a maker of ink-jet printers and liquid crystal displays, downgraded its revenue projection by 1.3 pct for this fiscal year to March, citing poor demand and price outlooks for smaller liquid crystal displays. However, the company kept its profit estimate forecasts unchanged. Seiko Epson is currently implementing a medium-term business plan focused on cost stru ...

LONDON (AFX) - The yen steadied after being pushed onto the defensive overnight by relatively soft Japanese inflation data, which cast further doubt on the likelihood of a rate hike next month from the Bank of Japan. Figures showed that the December national core CPI rate decelerated to 0.1 pct on an annual basis from expectations of a second consecutive 0.2 pct rise. In addition, the measure, w ...

SINGAPORE (XFN-ASIA) - The US dollar had a firmer tone against the yen in afternoon trading here, the yen having been depressed earlier in the Asian session by the release of data showing tamer-than-expected consumer inflation in Japan last month, dealers said. At 3.35 pm here (0735 GMT), the dollar was at 121.51 yen, up from 121.43 yen in Tokyo just over 4-1/2 hours earlier. The euro was at 1.29 ...

SEOUL (XFN-ASIA) - Kia Motors Corp said it posted a third consecutive quarterly loss in the three months to December, pressured by the stronger won and higher marketing costs. The automaker posted an operating loss of 55 bln won in the fourth quarter, reversing a profit of 54.1 bln a year earlier. The latest quarterly performance was worse than market consensus estimate for a loss of 20-30 bln w ...

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - The central bank has set the yuan central parity rate at 7.7817 to the dollar, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System. The rate, published on the official Chinamoney website (www.chinamoney.com.cn), compares with the midpoint of 7.7735 set the previous trading day. The People's Bank of China (PBoC) started setting a daily central parity rate on Jan 4, 2006.  ...

(Updates prices, adds details) LONDON (AFX) - Gold rallied above 650 usd an ounce to hit its highest level in more than five months as the recent recovery in oil prices boosted the precious metal's appeal as a hedge against inflation. At 1.32 pm, spot gold, which earlier hit a high of 653.00 usd an ounce, was quoted at 652.10 usd, up from the 647.50 usd level seen at the time of the COMEX market ...