Russia’s Ruble Climbs Further as Oil Touches $75

The Russian currency benefited from another day of growing demand for the crude oil, providing support for the ruble to advance versus the euro, dollar and the pound, as the demand for energy rises in the coldest season of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

After the crude oil touched $75 a barrel in New York today, the ruble continued its previous days advances versus most of the main currencies as the economic outlook for the world’s biggest energy exporter in 2010 is very optimistic, with an annual growth up to 5 percent expected for the coming year.

USD/RUB traded at 30.19 as of 18:10 GMT from an opening rate of 30.57 today.

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Romanian Leu Hits Record High on New Prime Minister

The Romanian leu touched the highest level in three months versus the euro after the country’s parliament chose its new prime minister, lifting speculations that a political crisis could influence the country’s economy negatively.

After the Romanian Parliament approved a new government led by prime minister Emil Boc, speculations that loan approvals necessary for stabilizing the Eastern European economy would not be approved disappeared, helping the leu to advance versus the dollar and the euro as concerns that the country could suffer a credit downgrade cooled down.

EUR/RON closed today at 4.1982 from an opening rate of 4.2173.

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Dollar Rebounds on Jobless Claims

After having its winning streak halted yesterday and earlier today on a negative housing report and as the Fed insisted that economic stimulus will be maintained, the dollar rebounded slightly as an employment report brought optimism back to the currency’s outlook.

The U.S. dollar started today’s session losing specially versus the euro after touching the lowest level in December, and also dropped versus the pound and the Canadian dollar as stocks surged globally, but as a jobless claims reports indicated a lower level of new applications for the past week, the dollar pared some of its losses and is currently trading near the highest levels for this month versus the yen and the pound, as retail sales also increased in the U.S., bringing optimism towards the economic recovery in North America for the next year.

Even if the Federal Reserve frustrated traders avoiding to comment interest rate hikes for anytime soon, the economic recovery in the U.S. and pessimism in other economic regions is still allowing the greenback to maintain the levels it reached this month, and may extend its gains for early 2010.

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Jobless Rates Push New Zealand Dollar Down

The New Zealand dollar lost versus most of the 16 main traded currencies this Thursday as the quarterly unemployment rate in the country grew further, decreasing attractiveness for the kiwi, as growing unemployment figures are a sign of bad economic health.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Alan Bollard affirmed that a strong currency is likely to slowdown the economic recovery process that the South Pacific nation is experiencing, raising concerns among traders that further rallies for the kiwi will eventually suffer interventions from the national central bank, declining even further the attractiveness for the kiwi, as the unemployment rate rose to 6.5 in the past quarter, the highest in 9 years and 0.5 percent more than the previous quarterly reading this year, affecting negatively the kiwi performance as stocks and commodities also dropped worldwide, a negative fact for the South Pacific region due to its commodity exporter economic profile.

Both analysts and policy makers in New Zealand admit the problems the country faced during the worst moments of the recession and considering its recovering process more complicated than the one in Australia, even if the kiwi is together with the Aussie, ranking among the 3 best performers in foreign-exchange markets in 2009, since despite its problems, New Zealand has been showing a stronger resilience than other wealthy nations in the world.

NZD/USD traded at 0.7211 as of 13:15 after touching 0.7308 yesterday. NZD/JPY traded at 65.17 from 66.43.

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Pound Up as Asset Purchase Program Changes

The pound climbed significantly versus the dollar, and to a lesser extent versus the euro as the national central bank extended its

asset-purchase program less than expected, suggesting that the British economy is needing less government stimulus to find its way out of recession, increasing attractiveness for the U.K. currency.

The Bank of England has been using its asset-purchase program to stimulate the faltering economy in the U.K., and its further extension was lower by 12.5 percent in total number of funds than what most analysts suggested, at 200 billion pounds, indicating that in the mid-term future, the program may be abandoned, as the British economy is likely to recovery its growing pace which will lead to further interest rate hikes, adding confidence towards the pound that has been having a positive performance this week in trading markets. The quantitative easing measures used by the Bank of England so far were one of the biggest factors to push the pound down this year, as it influenced negatively the pound outlook and sentiment towards the U.K.’s economy.

Analysts were surprised by the BOE tone and measures regarding the asset-purchase program, shifting instantly the trends for the pound in foreign-exchange markets. The quickest the asset-purchase program wil be partially or totally suspended, the better will be for the pound in currency markets.

GBP/USD traded at 1.6579 as of 14:04 from 1.6508 yesterday. GBP/JPY traded rather neutral from yesterday at 150.09.

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Euro Up as ECB Shifts Stimulus Program

The euro pared previous losses with a number of currencies this Thursday as the ECB affirmed that a series of measures used to stimulate the bloc’s economy on its way out of recession will be phased out, adding evidences that the economic health in the Eurozone is improving significantly.

The European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet stated today that gradually stimulus measures used to dodge recession will be lifted towards the complete phasing out of these interventions, as Europe is showing a number of reports indicating better economic figures during the past months.

EUR/USD traded at 1.4877 as of 14:34 GMT after being traded at 1.4816 before these statements.

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