Petro-currencies are all over the place as OPEC squares off in Vienna - here's what's happening in FX
Petro-currencies, aka currencies that are sensitive to the price of oil, are all over the place as leaders from OPEC meet in Vienna.
There were reports on Wednesday that the Saudis were open to restoring a production ceiling in an effort to "mend divisions" within OPEC.
However, Iran firmly remains against returning to an overall output ceiling - dampening hopes that any sort of deal will actually transpire.
Oil prices are more or less unchanged, with WTI crude around $49.04 per barrel and Brent crude near $49.83 per barrel as of 7:50 a.m. ET.
On the currency front, the Mexican peso is weaker by 0.2% at 18.5599 per dollar, the Canadian dollar is down by 0.2% at 1.3100 per dollar, and the Norwegian krone is off 0.4% at 8.3370 per dollar. However, the Russian ruble is stronger by 0.3% to 66.9344 per dollar.
As for the rest of the world, here's the scoreboard:
- The euro is little changed at 1.1191 after the ECB announced it left its deposit rate unchanged at -0.40%, as was expected.
- The Japanese yen is stronger by 0.5% at 108.97. On Wednesday, the currency saw its biggest gain in over a month after prime minister Shinzo Abe announced that he will delay the sales tax, which some analysts interpreted as a sign that the central bank will hold off on adding monetary stimulus.
- The South Korean won ended strong by 0.5% at 1186.60 per dollar after the economy posted 0.5% quarter-over-quarter growth, which was above economists' expectations of 0.4% growth. On the negative side, however, this is the second consecutive quarter that growth has slowed.
- The US dollar index is down by 0.2% at 95.31 ahead of the ADP employment change and initial jobless claims.