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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