The Bank of Korea (BOK) has kept interest rates unchanged at 1.75 percent as expected.
The status quo decision comes two days after the official data showed South Korea's GDP growth slowed to its weakest in six years at 2.7 percent in 2018.
Author
Omkar Godbole
FXStreet Contributor
Omkar Godbole, editor and analyst, joined FXStreet after four years as a research analyst at several Indian brokerage companies.
The British Pound ticks lower against the US Dollar Monday, attempting to close a seven-day rally, as tensions rise again in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the critical points in the peace process between Washington and Tehran. The GBP/USD pair trades near 1.3340 at the time of writing, down from 1.3387 highs last week, although it maintains a near-term bullish trend intact.
The EUR/USD pair extends its sideways consolidative price move during the Asian session on Tuesday, though it manages to hold comfortably above the 1.1400 mark. Moreover, spot prices remain well within striking distance of a nearly two-week high, touched last Thursday.
Gold trades with a negative bias below $4,200 for the second straight day, though it remains within striking distance of a two-week high set the previous day amid mixed cues. Tensions over the Strait of Hormuz remain elevated, lending some support to the safe-haven US Dollar and weighing on the bullion. However, receding bets on further Fed rate hikes keep USD bulls on the back foot and help limit downside for the non-yielding yellow metal.
Bitcoin briefly dropped below $63,000 on Monday after Strategy announced it sold 3,588 BTC from its corporate treasury, raising approximately $216 million. The proceeds were used to fund dividend payments under its Digital Credit Capital Framework, according to a Form 8-K filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
As the king among safe havens, the Swiss Franc is supposed to benefit from geopolitical shocks such as the Iran war. This time, it didn’t. The Swissie is nearly 6% below January’s peak against the USD after a sharp decline that came along with the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Financial markets came to Sintra looking for clues about the Federal Reserve's (Fed) next move. They largely left with confirmation that Fed Chair Kevin Warsh intends to make those clues much harder to find.
