Appeal For Higher Yielding

(Reuters) - Gold inched lower on Tuesday after failing to break above $1,600 an ounce, as investors await a European Union summit later in the week at which leaders will try to agree on action to solve the region's debt crisis. Gold made attempts to break above the key resistance level at $1,600 in the past two days but failed, and has since been drifting around $1,590 as investors remained cautious when the fate of Greece and euro zone remains in limbo. Market participants will closely watch an informal EU summit on Wednesday, during which French President Francois Hollande is expected to push for mutualised European debt, an idea that Germany has opposed. Equities extended gains, partly riding on optimism about fresh action at the Wednesday meeting, but some analysts were less ...

The political havoc in Greece remains the predominant concern across markets as investors see the inability to form a government is the tick to new elections and a political vacuum that might cost Greece its euro membership. Haven demand is heading towards low yielding currencies and keeping greenback afloat while pressuring precious metals as investors liquidate gold to keep the cash amid the high uncertainty! It is surely a new bearish start for metals this Monday with gold extending the losses below $1579.00 support and eying next areas of $1552.00. The metal is unable to regain its appeal as a precious haven despite the appropriate environment now amid the high uncertainty over the global growth outlook and stability in Europe, as the need now remains for liquidity amid the pressure ...

(Reuters) - The euro climbed to a more than one-week high against the dollar on Monday after an orderly auction of Greek default insurance supported views that Greece's threat to the euro zone has diminished. The euro also gained against the yen, hitting its strongest level in the almost five months since the Bank of Japan intervened to stem the currency's advance. Investors unwound bearish bets on the euro and focused on a Greek credit default swap auction that set the payout for holders of CDS totaling about 3.2 billion euros. The auction fixed a fair value price of 21.5 cents on the euro for Greek bonds, within expectations. That means an owner of Greek CDS would be paid 78.5 cents on the euro, which analysts said was enough to compensate for the roughly 75 percent loss investors ...

(Reuters) - The euro climbed to its highest in more than a week against the dollar on Monday after an orderly auction of Greek default insurance lent support to views that Greece presents less of a threat to the euro zone. The euro also gained against the yen, hitting its strongest level in the almost five months since the Bank of Japan intervened to stem its currency's advance. Investors unwound bearish bets on the euro and were focused on a Greek credit default swap auction to set the payout for holders of CDS totaling about 3.2 billion euros. The auction fixed a fair value price of 21.5 cents on the euro for Greek bonds, within expectations. That means an owner of Greek CDS would be paid 78.5 cents on the euro, which analysts said was enough to compensate for the roughly 75 percent ...

(Reuters) - The dollar slipped against the euro for a third straight day on Monday, receding from last week's one-month high, with the breaching of technical levels fuelling the single currency's strength. The euro also gained against the yen, hitting its highest level in almost five months when the Bank of Japan intervened to stem its currency's climb. "No bad news is arguably good news for the euro," said Nick Bennenbroek, head of currency strategy at Wells Fargo in New York. "This is not headline driven, but rather technical factors causing some short covering." The euro gained against the dollar after clearing recent daily highs of $1.3188 and $1.3192, with stops triggered around the $1.32 level, he said. The euro hit a session high of $1.3264 and last traded at $1.3238, up 0.5 ...

(Reuters) - The euro retreated from a five-month high against the yen and slipped against the dollar in quiet trade on Monday, with a dearth of economic data over the near term seen ultimately favoring the greenback. The yen rose versus growth-linked currencies as selling to fund carry trades abated, following a sharp rise in yen net short positioning over the past three weeks that ultimately took the Japanese currency to an 11-month low against the dollar last week. A dearth of significant data in the coming days means there will be few opportunities for investors to evaluate the U.S. and global economy, so dollar strength could persist, according to Andrew Cox, G10 strategist at CitiFX, a division of Citigroup in New York. "The systemic implications from Greece are zero at this point," ...

(Reuters) - The yen climbed off a five-month low against the euro on Monday and picked up versus growth-linked currencies as selling to fund carry trades abated, but investors will be looking at any rebound as an opportunity to sell the Japanese currency again. "There has been a significant rise in short yen positions so we are seeing a bit of a pullback ahead of a holiday in Japan," said Jeremy Stretch, head of currency strategy at CIBC World Markets. Japanese markets will be shut for a holiday on Tuesday. "These are opportunities to initiate fresh bearish positions and we expect dollar/yen to rise towards 85-85.50 yen while the euro having hit a high above 110 yen, is likely to consolidate." Net shorts in the yen have risen significantly over the past three weeks. With Greek-related ...

(Reuters) - European shares traded near eight-month highs on Thursday as a brighter global economic outlook fuelled investor risk appetite, underpinning the dollar and reducing the appeal of safe-haven government debt. Improving U.S. economic data and a signal from the Federal Reserve that it was not planning further monetary easing measures for now has sparked a big selloff in U.S. government debt, lifted the greenback against a basket of currencies and eased prices of commodities traded in dollars. "Investor sentiment has completely changed. In the past, people were expecting (U.S.) growth of around 1.5 percent but now they say growth could top three percent," said Hiroshi Yokotani, director of fixed income at Alliance Bernstein. World equities markets shared in the gains on Wednesday ...

(Reuters) - The dollar hit an 11-month high against the yen and one-month high versus the euro on Wednesday and more gains were expected after an upgraded Federal Reserve economic outlook and firmer U.S. data dented the greenback's appeal as a funding currency. U.S. two-year Treasury yields reached a 7-1/2-month high after solid retail sales data on Tuesday, making the dollar less attractive to fund investments in higher-yielding assets. These factors pushed the dollar to a peak of 83.56 yen in European trade, its highest since mid-April. Traders said Japanese exporters were reluctant to sell the dollar and anticipated further strength. Last year's high of 85.53 yen was seen as important resistance. The euro struggled against the dollar, falling to a one-month low of $1.30308 on trading ...