The European Single Currency, Euro in which speculators held record long position, on Friday, April slumped to $1.20965 in the previous session, its lowest level since Jan. 12. It last stood at $1.2112, and is down 1.4 percent on the week.
Meanwhile, European tech shares rose 0.75 percent to the highest in more than five weeks, buoyed also by gains in local IT and chipmaking firms such as Capgemini, ASML and Infineon.
In Britain, there was bad news on the growth front, with data showing the economy slowed much more sharply than expected in the first three months of 2018.iiiii
That has slashed market expectations of an interest rate increase by the Bank of England next month and sent sterling plunging to the lowest since March 9 against the dollar
The data indicated “that the (UK) slowdown is more structural”, Mizuho’s head of hedge fund sales, Neil Jones, said.
However, sterling’s slide helped UK shares on the FTSE index to rise nearly half a percent with gains led by multi-national earners which earn a big chunk of their revenues overseas but report profits in pounds.
The weak data adds to concerns that economic growth across the developed world is running out of steam, especially after lackluster euro zone figures earlier in the week and data on Friday showing French economic growth slowed more than expected in the first quarter.
“The euro zone’s economy doesn’t seem to have the type of momentum it had last year,” said Satoshi Okagawa, senior global markets analyst for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in Singapore.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walk together at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, South Korea, April 27, 2018. Korea Summit Press Pool/Pool via Reuters
Earlier, though, Asian markets reveled in the glow of the summit between North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and South Korean president Moon Jae-in. Political leaders and investors hope this would ease tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program and pave the way for the North and South to end their decades-long conflict.
