Exchange Rate Now!

The entire currency market is reeling from the depression which rocked the eurozone. It is currently a challenge of relativity – which country can withstand this crisis and emerge stronger in the economic sense, and as a result have a stronger currency.

China, in particular, has emerged the strong winner. In recent months, China not only gave a fresh display of its economic and political muscle, but also exhibited the skills and sophistication on emerging from the crisis.

For example, China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange clarified in May 2010 that Europe will continue as the key investment markets for China’s foreign-exchange reserves of nearly $2.5 trillion. This reserve is unrivaled even by the United States, and shows the long term vision of the Chinese in getting value for their investment and equally importantly, the confidence that Europe will be able to recover from the Eurozone crisis.

Currently, 1 Chinese Yuan (or Renminbi) trades at 0.1183 Euro, or 1 Euro = 8.453 Renminbi.

Hedge funds in particular, pays attention to the announcement by the Chinese government and would (more…)

It hardly sound like an enviable name – PIGS. Yet, this is the exact term creatively coined by some journalist which represents the 4 nations in Europe which currently faces the real possibility of financial collapse.

P – Portugal
I – Ireland
G – Greece
S – Spain

It is amazing how Portugal and Spain came to be liken to a financial weakling but years of accumulating debts, borrowings and poor financial controls brought it to the same state with Greece. Amongst the European Union now, leaders must be asking themselves what should be the collective next steps instead of just verbatim. The next step would really have to be (more…)

Just when everyone thought that we had recovered from the global financial crisis which started in late 2008, the Dow Jones, NASDAQ and S&P 500 are now reeling from a long overdue aftermath and plunged in late Feb 2010.

The direct impact on forex led the a spike in US Dollar against major currencies like the Euro and the Japanese Yen. The hope is now on the drop in unemployment rate to stabilise the economy and bring back the much needed confidence into the stock markets around the world and as a result bring more predictability into the forex market.

As at 6 Feb 2010, the US Dollar was trading at 

1 U.S. dollar = 0.733460466 Euros

or  Euro = 1.3634 U.S. dollars. Nowhere near the levels last seen in Dec 2008 but surely a worrying sign even for USA, as a appreciating US Dollar may hamper exports and put a damper on economic growth.

Adding more complexity to the equation is the result concern on European debts. Countries in European Union (EU) like Greece, Romania, Spain, Portugal, Turkey and other countries in Europe like Iceland still could not shake off the stigma of an imminent collapse in financial system. If this scenario truly materialize in the Eurozone, it could lead to (more…)