The Euro slipped from a recently struck 4-year peak versus the Japanese Yen following comments made by an official of the European Central Bank which effectively tanked the common currency. According to Christian Noyer, a member of the central bank’s governing council, the bank would hold interest rates at their historic low levels over an extended period of time if conditions warranted but could move lower as well if needed. Those comments sent the Euro spiraling and were seen as a small setback after a strong recovery following last Wednesday’s media report which said that the ECB might consider negative deposit rates.
As reported at 11:33 a.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the EUR/JPY was trading at 137.22 Japanese Yen, moving away from a session high of 137.978 Yen. The Euro also dipped against the U.S. Dollar with the EUR/USD pair trading at $1.3520, down from yesterday’s peak of $1.3561. The Euro’s overall weakness helped to give the U.S. Dollar Index some support; the Index moved away from Monday’s low of 80.677 .DXY to trade at 80.859 .DXY; the Index is used by market players to assess the greenback’s value relative to major rivals.
RBA Keeps Intervention as an Option
In Australia, the Reserve Bank is still attempting to bring down the Aussie’s too strong value which is impeding economic growth. The deputy governor of the RBA recently said that the central bank might consider intervention if necessary, though it was expected that the Aussie Dollar would soften over time. The AUD/USD was trading at $0.9177, moving away from the overnight low of $0.9120; since October, the Australian Dollar has lost more than 6% of its value relative to the U.S. Dollar.