· Dollar nurses losses on vaccine doubts, kiwi shines post-RBNZ
The dollar nursed losses on Wednesday as optimism about a potential coronavirus vaccine was offset by worries about how the drug will be delivered and by a surge of new infections in the United States.
The New Zealand dollar recovered from an early dip to hit its strongest level in more than a year as traders scaled back bets that the central bank would move to negative interest rates.
The dollar held steady at 105.28 yen JPY=D3, trading near a three-week high.
Against the euro EUR=D3, the dollar was little changed at $1.1822.
The British pound GBP=D3 traded at $1.3258, close to a two-month high due to growing optimism that Britain and the European Union will agree a long-sought-after trade deal.
Sterling, however, surrendered some of its overnight gains against the euro EURGBP=.
Sentiment for the dollar got a boost after Pfizer Inc PFE.N and BioNTech 22UAy.DE said on Monday their experimental coronavirus vaccine was 90% effective.
However, the reaction across financial markets has become more tempered because there are several logistical hurdles to making the drug available, including that it has to be shipped at extremely cold temperatures.
Several U.S. states on Tuesday imposed restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus as hospitalisations soared, highlighting the difficulty in containing the virus as winter in the Northern Hemisphere approaches.
The dollar index =USD against a basket of six major currencies steadied at 92.741.
The onshore yuan CNY=CFXS capitalised on the dollar's weakness and rose to 6.6001.
Other Asian currencies, such as the Korean won KRW= and the Singapore dollar SGD=, also gained against the greenback.
The New Zealand dollar NZD=D3 hit $0.6904, its strongest since March 2019.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) kept interest rates on hold at 0.25% and introduced a new monetary policy tool to encourage more loans by reducing borrowing costs for banks, which matched market expectations.
RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr also said domestic economic activity since August has been more resilient than previously assumed, which many traders took as a sign that the chance of negative interest rates had receded.
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· CORONAVIRUS UPDATES:
Global Cases: 51.86M
Global Deaths: 1.28M
U.S. Cases: 10.56M
U.S. Deaths: 245,943
· Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine poses global logistics challenge
Two vast football-pitch-sized facilities equipped with hundreds of large freezers in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Puurs, Belgium, will be the centres of the huge effort to ship the coronavirus vaccine, developed by US drug giant Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech, around the world.
Governments are scrambling to prepare for the rollout of the vaccine, which must be stored at -70C (-94F), after the announcement from the two companies that it was more than 90% effective and had no serious side-effects. The news sparked hopes of a return to normal life and a stock market rally, but now minds are turning to the practicalities of getting the vaccine quickly to populations across the world, in particular to the vulnerable people who need it most.
· EU says to purchase up to 300 mln doses of BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine
The European Union (EU) will authorize a contract for the purchase of up to 300 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by German company BioNTech and its American partner Pfizer, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday.
· Europe COVID death toll tops 300,000 as winter looms and infections surge
and authorities fear that fatalities and infections will continue to rise as the region heads into winter despite hopes for a new vaccine.
With just 10% of the world’s population, Europe accounts for almost a quarter of the 1.2 million deaths globally, and even its well-equipped hospitals are feeling the strain.
In all, Europe has reported some 12.8 million cases and about 300,114 deaths. Over the past week, it has seen 280,000 cases a day, up 10% from the week earlier, representing just over half of all new infections reported globally
· South Korea appealed for Biden's 'summit-level' interests in North Korea talks
The office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in said separately on Wednesday it was arranging a phone call between Moon and Biden for Thursday.
“I highlighted the need to reinforce diplomatic efforts to achieve the goal of completely denuclearising the Korean peninsula given the urgency of the North Korean nuclear issue,” she told reporters.
“I put a particular emphasis on the importance of a swift restart of U.S.-North Korea dialogue ... as an issue that requires a priority, summit-level interests.”
· Singapore and Hong Kong to start ‘travel bubble’ flights on Nov. 22
Quarantine-free leisure travel between Hong Kong and Singapore will resume on Nov. 22, according to details of a bilateral air travel bubble announced Wednesday.
Under the new guidelines, passengers will be allowed to travel between the two locations without the need to isolate on arrival.
· Oil rises on declining U.S. crude stocks, hopes for COVID-19 vaccine
Oil prices climbed over 1% on Wednesday, after an industry report showed U.S. crude inventories have fallen more than expected, while hopes of an effective COVID-19 vaccine continued to bolster sentiment.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures were up 48 cents, or 1.1% to $44.09 a barrel at 0445 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures also rose 48 cents, or 1.2%, to $41.84 a barrel. Both benchmarks gained nearly 3% on Tuesday.
Crude stockpiles fell by 5.1 million barrels last week to about 482 million barrels, industry group data showed on Tuesday, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a reduction of 913,000 barrels.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters, Worldometers, The Guardian
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