The markets are full of news concerning different governments and central banks doing their utmost to support their domestic economies in the global slowdown. The Japanese Yen drops to its lowest levels, the Russian Rouble is devalued, the Pound nears parity with the Euro and the Irish inject more money into the economy..
The yen dropped to the lowest level versus the dollar in almost a week after Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the nation’s exports may decline further because of the yen’s strength and the global slowdown. Exports plunged by a record in November.
“People have been encouraged to put in a bit more of the risk trades and that’s taking the top off some of the yen gains,” said Jeremy Stretch, senior market strategist in London at Rabobank International, the third-biggest Dutch lender. “They are also assessing the state of the economy and asking if the big moves we’ve seen in the yen are justified.”
The Russian central bank widened the rouble trading band for the sixth time this month, allowing the currency to weaken by another 30 kopecks to 33.45 against the dollar/euro basket, a central bank source said “I have a feeling that the central bank may attempt to solve most of the rouble exchange rate problems already this year,” said Trust bank analyst Evgeny Nadorshin, adding that accelerated devaluation added uncertainty to the market.
The Irish government is pumping €5.5 billion into recapitalising their major banks, the US Federal Reserve cut its base rate to a range from 0.0% to 0.25%. Foreign currency services
