Antipodeans find footing after Omicron slide, cryptos lick wounds

The dollar is a more risky currency last Monday as concerns about the Omicron variant seemed to have diminished, despite expectations that inflation would boost U.S. interest rates firmly against the euro. I gave a high price to.

Growth-sensitive antipodes will rebound in Asia after a sharp fall on Friday as emotions were strengthened by preliminary observations from South Africa suggesting that Omicron patients showed relatively mild symptoms. It was made.

Australia rose 0.3% to $ 0.7023, up from its 13-month low. Kiwi rose 0.2% to $ 0.6756, up from Friday’s 13-month low. [AUD /]

After the weekend boom, cryptocurrencies have stabilized and Bitcoin has found support for around $ 49,000.

“Omicron’s headline is moving in the right direction, and risk-off sentiment can quickly subside,” said an analyst at OCBC Bank in Singapore.

Little is known about Omicron, but early observations in South Africa suggest that infected individuals experience relatively minor symptoms compared to previous waves of the virus. ..

“It doesn’t seem to be that serious so far,” Anthony Fauci, a leading infectious disease leader in the United States, told CNN.

The euro was down 0.2% to $ 1.1289 and the pound was stable at $ 1.3234.Investors believed that China’s trade surplus would support the currency,

So the Chinese yuan remained stable at 6.3700 per dollar even after state media announced policy easing. [CNY /]

Inflationary pressure

Omicron aside, the background and the coming weeks will give traders many causes of nervousness. This is reflected in the volatility indicators of sick Australia and Kiwi, which hit a few months high on Monday.

OCBC expects investors to shift focus in line with central bank meetings this week in Australia and Canada ahead of Friday’s US inflation data, which could calm the US interest rate outlook. The Federal Reserve Board, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan will meet next week.

Last week’s mixed US employment report barely shakes market expectations for a more aggressive tightening in the US, and the consumer price index scheduled for Friday is another discussion of early cuts and a stronger dollar. It is emerging.

The US dollar index started a stable week at 96.21, within the range of the 16-month high of 96.938 in November.

The futures market is almost fully priced, rising to 0.25% by May and 0.5% by November.

Long-term interest rates remain stubbornly low, but investors believe that the faster the start rate is raised, the slower economic growth and inflation will be, and the higher the fund rate will be.