Forint Suffers from Bad German Data
The Hungarian forint fell today as negative macroeconomic data from Germany scared investors and made them reluctant to buy risky assets.
German retail sales fell 0.1 percent in June, frustrating analysts who predicted a 0.6 percent increase. Unemployment rose by 7,000. Germany is the main driver of economic growth in the European Union, therefore any negative data reflects badly on smaller European economies.
The coming monetary policy meeting of the European Central Bank has a mixed influence of the forint. On one hand, traders hope that the ECB would ease the policy, boosting higher-yielding currencies. On the other hand, absence of easing would likely sink risky currencies.
USD/HUF rose from 228.9050 to 229.1000 as of 23:03 GMT today. EUR/HUF was little changed at 281.7500.
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EUR/HUF, European Central Bank, Forint, Germany, Hungary, Monetary Policy, Retail Sales, Unemployment, USD/HUF
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Earlier News About the Hungarian Forint:
- Forint Loses Gains, Still Heads for Third Weekly Advance (2012-06-22)
- Forint Gains as Europe Strengthens Firewall Against Crisis (2012-03-30)
- Forint Drops to Almost Three-Year Low (2012-01-04)
- Forint Goes Lower as Borrowing Costs Rise (2011-12-29)
- Forint Goes Down, More Interest Rate Hikes Expected (2011-11-30)
