The oil market remained depressed. Brent crude slid more than 2 percent early, dipping below $50 a barrel for the first time since early 2009 before bouncing up to just over $51. It finished up 5 cents or 0.1 percent at $51.15 a barrel, while U.S. crude futures settled up 72 cents or 1.50 percent at $48.65. The euro fell as low as $1.18085 , the lowest since 2009. It last traded at $1.1842, down 0.4 percent on the day on the EBS trading system. The euro fell as low as $1.18020 on the EBS trading platform, its weakest since January 2006. In afternoon trade it recovered slightly to $1.18440, a loss of 0.39 percent on the day. A rebound in global equity markets has undermined the safety trade of buying Japanese yen. The euro pulled up from a two-month low to trade at 141.060 yen, a gain of 0.22 percent.
The dollar also rose against the yen, rebounding from early losses. It was last up 0.6 percent at 119.13 yen, which was about 2.7 yen below a seven-year peak set in December. The greenback, like stocks, climbed on encouraging data on U.S. trade and private job growth and an initial rise in U.S. yields. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, powered to a fresh nine-year high at 92.265 before settling back to 91.955, a gain of 0.50 percent.
Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,215.93 an ounce at 3:22 p.m. EDT (2022 GMT) after jumping to its highest since Dec. 15 at $1,222.40 in the previous session as equities fell on concerns over Greece’s future in the euro zone. Silver reversed earlier losses to trade up 0.2 percent at $16.65 an ounce, while platinum was up 0.3 percent at $1,227 an ounce and palladium was down 1.4 percent to $795.02 an ounce.
Read the full report: FX Daily