Swedish Krona Rebounds From Fresh 3-week Low Against US Dollar
The Swedish krona that slumped to more than a 3-week low against the US dollar during early European trading on Friday reversed its course following the better-than-expected Swedish retail sales gave traders some confidence to buy emerging market assets.
The domestic currency drifted higher to 6.9879 against the greenback by 8:10 am ET, up 1.5 percent from a 22-day low of 7.0901 hit around 2:45 am. The greenback-krona pair closed yesterday’s deals at 6.9718.
Statistics Sweden’s report showed that retail sales rose 5.5% year-on-year in October, surpassing the 2.6% growth in September. Economists expected a 4.2% rise.
Month-on-month, retail sales grew 1.5%, faster than a 0.2% increase in September, and marks the second consecutive month of increase. Economists expected only a 0.5% rise.
However, the Swedish economy contracted 5% year-on-year in the third quarter, on a working day adjusted basis, the Statistics Sweden said today. The fall was in line with economists’ expectations. The statistical office upwardly revised the second quarter GDP by 0.2 percentage points.
On a quarterly basis, the seasonally adjusted GDP rose 0.2% in the third quarter, but slower than economists’ expectations for a 0.6% rise.
The Swedish currency has been mostly weaker against the US dollar since it touched a 3-week high of 6.7725 on November 16. The domestic unit has lost 4.5 percent versus the greenback since then. Currently, the pair is trading at 7.0092.
