LONDON Aug 3 (Reuters) – The Serbian dinar fell half a
percent on Friday, spooked by the protest resignation of the
central bank governor, while emerging stocks stayed in negative
territory after the ECB failed to satisfy hopes of swift action
on the euro crisis.
Markets were disappointed that Thursday’s ECB policy meeting
did not result immediately in concrete crisis fighting measures
after Draghi, the bank’s chief, said last week the bank would do
“whatever it takes” to preserve the euro.
“Today the mood is one of disappointment over the ECB. The
ECB say they will do everything and then do nothing so from that
perspective the reaction has actually been muted,” said Lars
Christensen, chief emerging markets analyst at Danske Bank.
Benchmark emerging stocks traded just under flat,
having pared earlier heavy losses. The index was on course to
post losses for the week following a fortnight of gains.
Chinese stocks rose more than 1 percent, however,
buoyed by property stocks which rebounded on news that the
housing ministry had denied rumours that more curbs would be
placed on the sector.
Political uncertainty weighed on the Romanian leu
and the Serbian dinar.
The dinar fell 0.5 percent to a one-week low after the
governor of Serbia’s central bank, Dejan Soskic, resigned on
Thursday, saying a draft law being debated in parliament
threatened the independence of the bank.
The dinar has lost almost 10 percent this year versus the
euro due to ongoing political turmoil. The news pushed credit
default swaps 11 bps higher on Thursday to 467 bps according to
Markit. No quotes were available for Friday.
The leu fell 0.3 percent, approaching recent record lows,
after Romania’s constitutional court delayed a ruling on whether
a referendum to impeach the country’s president was valid. This
reignites concern over the drawn-out tussle.
Continued…
