AUD was the worst performing currency last week, playing its role a proxy for China/EM concerns. AUD and CAD continue to be dragged down by weak commodities and global growth concerns. USD fell against every other G10 currency as market turmoil forced investors to square long held and excessive USD longs – on top of the dovish turn in FOMC expectations. CHF was the best performing currency due to safe-haven flows while EUR outperformed on unwinding of short EUR/long European equities strategies as DAX/ Eurostoxx tanked over the past week. NZD performed surprisingly well considering the huge spike in risk aversion but this was mostly due to heavy AUD/NZD short covering. GBP underperformed due to heavy EUR/GBP short covering as the current market turmoil is seen delaying any Fed and BOE tightening in the months ahead.
View further market information in the FXWW Chatroom with a free trial.