Around 8:00 p.m. the euro fell 0.13% against the greenback to 1.0652 dollars. The day before, the European currency had already lost about 2%.
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The euro started falling slightly against the dollar at the end of the session Friday and fell to its lowest level in three years, the greenback remaining much sought after despite the actions of central banks to facilitate access to the American currency.
Around 7:00 p.m. GMT (8:00 p.m. in Paris), the euro fell 0.13% against the greenback, to 1.0652 dollars. The day before, the European currency had already lost about 2%, a very important level on the foreign exchange market.
In recent days, the dollar has risen sharply, the dollar index, which compares the value of the greenback against a basket of other currencies, has gained more than 7% since March 10. In question, the fall in economic activity due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This collapse in global activity leaves many people with dollar debts to fund, and not enough dollars coming in to do so,” said Kit Juckes, Societe Generale analyst.
Several central banks, including the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and that of England, announced Friday a coordinated action to facilitate access to dollars
“To improve the effectiveness of currency exchange agreements in providing financing in US dollars, these central banks have agreed to increase the frequency of operations to 7 days from weekly to daily,” the banks said in a statement. .
On Thursday, the American Central Bank (Fed) also announced a whole series of so-called “swap” agreements to allow its counterparts in Brazil, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and Korea. from the south, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Singapore to easily access dollars.
The institution also continues to water the liquidity markets.
The latest measure, it announced Friday that it will increase the amount it offers daily in the money market to $ 1,000 billion until the end of the month.
The crisis has also “dealt a serious blow to the economy of the euro area, as we have seen with the drop in morale among German investors, a potential signal of a recession,” said Joe Manimbo of Western Union.
The British pound, for its part, rebounded the day after an announcement by the Bank of England which decided to lower its interest rate to 0.1%, an historic level, and to amplify its buy-back program. ‘assets.
“Although, in theory, a drop in interest rates should have a negative impact on a currency, the pound rebounded with the prospect of a less dramatic economic contraction (than without action from the Bank of England)”, observed Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst for Swissquote Bank.
Around 7:00 p.m. GMT, the pound gained 0.83% against the green note at 1.1573 dollars after falling to 1.1412 dollars, a lowest since 1985, and 0.95% against the euro, at 92.03 pence for one euro. Thursday, it had reached a low since 2009 against the European currency.
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