European currencies hammered as Russia invades Ukraine By Reuters

By Tommy Wilkes

LONDON (Reuters) – The Russian rouble tumbled to a file low and European currencies together with the euro bore the brunt of promoting on Thursday after Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine, sparking dramatic strikes throughout overseas trade markets.

Buyers dashed for safe-haven currencies together with the greenback, which jumped 0.9%, in addition to the Swiss franc and Japanese yen.

Except for the rouble, it was the currencies of European international locations such the Swedish crown, Hungarian forint and Polish zloty that have been hammered probably the most – all dropping greater than 1% as merchants braced for the fallout from a struggle in Europe’s east and extra Western sanctions on Russian belongings.

Volatility throughout FX markets soared, with one generally adopted measure hitting its highest since December 2020.

MUFG analyst Lee Hardman mentioned risk-off sentiment would “dominate within the near-term favouring additional U.S. greenback, yen and Swiss franc energy.

“In distinction, dangers stay closely tilted to the draw back for the rouble and different European currencies that are extra delicate to detrimental spillovers from navy motion in Ukraine,” he mentioned.

The rouble weakened to as little as 89.98 per greenback earlier than recovering a few of these losses. The U.S. foreign money was final up practically 4% in opposition to the Russian foreign money.

The euro fell as a lot as 1.2% to $1.1164, the bottom stage since Jan. 31.

The Swiss franc, a foreign money traders purchase when they’re nervous, soared to its highest since 2015 versus the euro at 1.0292 earlier than falling again. The euro was final down 0.6% at 1.0314 francs.

The hit 97.04, a three-week excessive.

John Goldie, an FX supplier at Argentex, mentioned he had been stunned had the restricted response in foreign money markets in latest days however “we at the moment are seeing a concerted transfer into the greenback.”

“Clearly, many didn’t hearken to the phrases of Putin’s speech the opposite day and wrote them off as ramblings of an egotist. That blinkered pondering has now given strategy to an actual concern of how dangerous does this get,” he mentioned.

Strikes within the Japanese yen weren’t as dramatic. The greenback was final down 0.3% at 114.71 yen.

Currencies intently linked to world funding sentiment tumbled.

The Swedish crown dropped sharply to its weakest since Might 2020 versus the greenback and the euro. The greenback was final up 1.8% at 9.5715 crowns.

Norway’s crown skidded too, with the euro final up 0.6% at 10.118 crowns.

The Australian greenback dropped 0.8% to $0.7167 and the New Zealand greenback slid 1% to $0.6702.

The falls within the commodity-linked currencies got here regardless of a soar in oil costs to above $100 a barrel.