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Monday, March 18, 2013

New Round Of Crises Hits As Cyprus Takes Drastic Action

Investors today have been seeking haven assets after Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades succumbed to demands from Euro region finance ministers, to raise 5.8 billion Euros ($7.5 billion) which he plans to do by taking a piece of every bank account in Cyprus.
 
In effect, bank deposit holders are to be taxed and are to provide involuntary support for the bailout. The further concern is whether any larger nations will at some point have to follow suite.

This has seen the Euro drop to its lowest level to the Dollar since the 10th December 2012 at $1.2882 and by the most in three weeks against the Yen to 121.15. The Euro also slid by 0.65% to 1.2196 Francs and 1.3% to 85.39 U.K. pence.

In September of 2012, the European Central Bank had pledged to backstop troubled nations' debt however this was soon forgotten as Cypriots lined up at the banks.
 
Moody's Investors Service had said that the terms of Cyprus's bailout are negative for depositors across Europe.

Some analysts expect that the Euro could go through the $1.2872 area depending on how the situation pans out, but one thing seems definite, the Euro will face downward pressure in the near term.

As the level of uncertainty in markets rises and investors become unsure of where they're going to move to next, their focus becomes more intense on every new data release.

On Tuesday, Greece will sell 1 billion Euros of 3 month Treasury bills and Spain will auction 3 and 9 month bills. Portugal will sell 3 and 18 month paper on March 20th and Italy will offer bonds on March 25th.

The Federal Reserve is set to start a 2 day policy meet tomorrow, and we will also see a leadership change starting at the Bank of Japan (BOJ) the same day.

The Yen has risen against all 16 of its major counterparts and this saw the Dollar loose 0.9% to 94.47 Yen.

The Australian and New Zealand Dollars both dropped following a slide in Asian stocks.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 1.8%, it's sharpest decline since July 2012, and the Aussie was down by 0.4% to $1.0367 with the Kiwi down by 0.4% to 82.41 U.S. cents.

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