CANBERRA: Yesterday the Dow Jones index of shares dropped 0.3 percent and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index declined 0.7 percent. European shares also fell yesterday after weak Chinese import data, though SABMiller soared after accepting a takeover from rival Anehuser-Busch InBev.
Reports showed that Chinese imports depreciated more than estimated added to concern the world’s second-largest economy is losing momentum. Imports in China fell for an 11th month in September and exports slumped 1.1 percent.
Besides that data yesterday showed that the ZEW survey of German economic sentiment drop short of forecasts due to Volkswagen scandal. The USD weakened 0.15 percent to 119.82 JPY and the EUR appreciated to 1.1411 USD which was a three week peak.
Australia’s currency declined 1.6 percent to 0.7217 USD, after gaining 5.4 percent during the previous nine days in the longest winning streak since March 2009. New Zealand’s currency also tumbled 1.1 percent to 0.6642 USD after the nation’s central bank said it was likely to ease monetary policy.
The GBP touched the weakest level versus the EUR since February as Britain’s inflation rate unexpectedly turned negative for the second time since 1960 in the past month, strengthening the case for the Bank of England to postpone interest rate increases.
U.K. consumer prices declined 0.1 percent after stagnating in August. In addition data also showed that core consumer-price growth advanced 1 percent. The GBP depreciated versus 12 of its 16 major peers, fulfilled its steepest drop versus the USD in almost three weeks. The EUR/GBP gained 0.9 percent to 0.7463 and the GBP/USD weakened 0.7 percent to 1.5246.
