Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar gains, stocks dip on euro zone debt concerns

Published 05/15/2011, 09:17 PM
Updated 05/15/2011, 09:20 PM

* Dollar index up more than 4 percent in less than two weeks

* U.S. bonds extend gains in early trade

* Japan, Australia stocks slip; Whitehaven dives

By Saikat Chatterjee

HONG KONG, May 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar hovered near a six-week high against the euro and stocks dipped on Monday as renewed concerns of a possible euro zone debt restructuring prompted market players to reduce risk.

Having gained by more than four percent in less than two weeks, the dollar extended its biggest winning streak against a basket of other currencies this year helped by violent swings in commodities and troubles in the euro zone.

The single currency was down a fifth of a percent from late New York trade on Friday at $1.4083, near a six-week low of $1.4065 hit late last week on EBS.

A meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers, followed by an Ecofin meeting of EU finance ministers on Monday, could provide further direction for the euro.[ID:nLDE66D1JB].

While some large bids in the euro are strewn around the $1.4050 to $1.4000 region, just below that, from $1.3900 to $1.4000, is also an area where stop-loss orders are said to be lurking, according to traders. [ID:nL4E7GF0CQ]

The euro's weakness rippled over into equities with shares in Asia's developed markets opening lower, even as Wall Street fell on Friday, rounding off a second straight week of losses.

Japan's Nikkei was down nearly a percent with banks among the main losers and Australia's benchmark index slumping 1.3 percent, helped by resource shares.

Shares in Whitehaven Coal dived 14.5 percent after the firm called off a sale process after a five-month auction failed to find a buyer at the right price. [ID:nL4E7GF0BK]

MSCI's index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.9 percent after falling for two consecutive weeks.

Even as euro zone officials scrambled to avert a fresh precipitation of the debt crisis, an unexpected complication for financial markets this week will be the arrest on sexual assault charges of International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. [ID:nN15215355]

A Greek official told Reuters that Strauss-Kahn's arrest "might definitely cause some delays in the short term" but would not change the IMF's policy on Greece. [ID:nN15241568]

In bond markets, U.S. government bonds extended Friday's gains as investors' preference for safety pushed ten-year yields down to 3.16 percent from 3.23 percent on Thursday.

The dollar's strength chewed into oil's chunky gains last week with U.S. crude futures down nearly 1 percent on Monday below $99 a barrel. [ID:nL4E7GF0B4]

* For Reuters Global Investing Blog, click on

http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting

* For the MacroScope Blog, click on

http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope

* For Hedge Fund Blog, click on

http://blogs.reuters.com/hedgehub

(Additional reporting by Masayuki Kitano and Krishna Kumar; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.