Updated with price at 3:10 p.m. GMT, analyst and background
London (awp/afp) – The euro hit a new high in more than a month against the US dollar on Monday morning, galvanized by risk appetite stemming from the easing of anti-Covid-19 lockdowns in China, and this trend was also benefiting bitcoin.
Around 3:10 p.m. GMT (5:10 p.m. CET), the euro gained 0.41% to 1.0779 dollars, after rising to 1.0782 dollars, a high since the end of April.
The progressive deconfinement of Shanghai and the lifting of part of the health restrictions in Beijing pushed investors to abandon safe havens such as the dollar.
In addition, “expectations of a rate hike by the European Central Bank (ECB) in July have increased,” said Jane Foley, an analyst at Rabobank, who believes that a “recession could be avoided”.
Investors will watch inflation figures in the euro zone on Tuesday, which could influence the signal sent by the ECB at its meeting in early June.
“Given the problems facing the euro zone”, with the conflict in Ukraine and the dependence on Russian energy, “the ECB’s rate hike will be more like that of the Bank of England than the Reserve federal government,” warns Chris Beauchamp, an analyst at IG.
If the two central banks have started to tighten their monetary policies, that of the United Kingdom is cautious and warns that it risks having to stop its increases so as not to weigh on growth, where the American Fed relies on a economy so far resilient to promise multiple rate hikes.
The Polish zloty for its part gained 0.18% to 4.25 zlotys against the greenback, after having reached 4.24 zlotys for a dollar, a peak since the beginning of April.
“The Polish currency has benefited from the better than expected resistance of the economy to the war” in Ukraine, said Matthew Ryan, analyst at Ebury.
Market risk appetite also benefited bitcoin, which rose 4.6% to $30,512.
After a plunge at the start of the month, the cryptocurrency has recovered and is trading around $30,000, although it remains down 20% in May.
Volumes are expected to remain limited on Monday due to a US holiday.
Monday class Friday class
———————————
3:10 PM GMT 9:00 PM GMT
EUR/USD 1.0779 1.0735
EUR/JPY 137.53 136.46
EUR/CHF 1.0319 1.0271
EUR/GBP 0.8528 0.8499
USD/JPY 127.57 127.11
USD/CHF 0.9573 0.9568
GBP/USD 1.2641 1.2631
js/embe/spi