Speculation that China’s State Administration for Foreign Exchange was reviewing its Euro assets together with declining confidence in European Central Bank policies sent Euro crosses on average 0.7 per cent lower last week, a report by ETF Securities shows.
ETFS Long GBP Short EUR and ETFS Long NOK Short EUR were the best performers, rising by 1.8 per cent and 1.7 per cent over the week, respectively.
The Australian Dollar clawed back some of last week’s heavy losses after the Australian government softened its position towards its controversial mining tax proposal. ETFS Long AUD Short USD was down nearly 11 per cent over the past month, prior to last week’s rebound.
High-yield currencies strengthened last week as risk appetite rebounded. The three highest yielding currency ETCs – ETFS Long AUD Short USD, ETFS Long NZD Short USD and ETFS Long NOK Short USD – were buoyed by last week’s increase in risk appetite as investors tentatively moved back into carry trades. They showed weekly gains of 3.0 per cent, 2.2 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively.
ETF Securities’ currency ETC platform reached a record high of USD195m in assets under management last week, with weekly trading volumes holding at around USD60m, a 200 per cent rise over two week ago levels and just shy of record levels.
