The market remained downbeat on Thursday with losses extending from commodities to equities keeping the demand for refuge intact and powering the dollar to conquer all.
Fears spread over the outlook for growth with the decline in commodities extending heavily and affecting equities. The debt crisis was also weighing negatively on the sentiment which weakened the euro further with the bleak outlook for indebted nations.
China extended the downside pressure on the market as the central bank raised the reserve requirements for banks for the fifth time this year to anchor inflation that rallied to an annual 5.3% in April.
This downbeat sentiment kept refuge demand on the dollar and only the dollar, where already gold is under heavy liquidations with the commodities rout and the yen is volatile with fears of intervention, though it still gained grounds too.
The gauge for greenback’s performance, the dollar index, moved to the upside to the high of 75.63 from the low of 75.47 and trading positively now around 75.50 ahead of the weekly jobless claims, retail sales and producer prices which will extend the market volatility even further.
As for the euro, the heavy drop in industrial orders weighed further on the debt-battered euro as the common currency breached the critical support areas at 1.4170 and now trading below it at 1.4150, above the low reached at 1.4121. A daily closing below the breached support will likely extend the correction for the euro that is battered by its debt imbalances.
The IMF said in its Regional Economic Outlook for Europe that the recovery is on track in Europe strong action is needed to improve the fiscal health of EU members to prevent future crises. They project growth to accelerate in Europe to remain stable at 2.4% this year and accelerate to 2.6% next year, while inflation is to rally to 3.8% before falling back to 3.0% next year as the IMF also assumes the rise in food and fuel prices to be temporary.
Sterling on the other hand slumped heavily following disappointing industrial figures that missed expectations assuring the downside pressures on growth and rising in U.K. and undermining the BoE’s capacity to raise rates as yesterday’s rally failed to hold with investors absorbing the downside overview on growth that will restrain the BoE from raising rates soon.
Sterling slumped from the intraday high of 1.6378 to the low of 1.6248 and currently hovering around 1.6257. The strong support ahead at 1.6230 might add to the volatility and send the pair higher yet a closing below it will extend the downside correction further.
The Japanese yen is struggling with heavy volatility as risk aversion is keeping the yen strong versus the dollar yet investors are still cautious around those levels with fears of a new intervention by the BoJ. With China’s move on reserves the volatility increased and fears over the outlook for growth intensified sending the yen higher for now versus the dollar. The USD/JPY is trading around 80.87 recording the high of 81.32 and the low of 80.71.