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Deadly Collision Claims 67 Lives in U.S. Air Disaster | At Least 30 Dead and Many Injured in Stampede at Maha Kumbh Mela in India | Cambodia to Host 2025 National Chapei Dang Veng Festival from June 11-13 | Senate President Hun Sen Reflects on Cambodia’s Development and ASEAN Integration | ASEAN Secretary-General Hails Samdech Techo Hun Sen's Vision at Policy Speech | Cambodia Temporarily Bans Livestock and Meat Imports from Thailand Amid Anthrax Outbreak |

FINANCE Tuesday 31st May

  • Posted May 31, 2022 12:43 by Anthony Ellis
  • 2566
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INTERNATIONAL: The CSX Index is currently at 506.53 Points down 1.18 Points or 0.23%

The Daily Exchange Rate: is 4,062 KHR to the USD$

STOCKS DIP, BONDS DROP AS GERMAN SURPRISE RENEWS INFLATION FEARS.

Stocks wobbled and bonds fell in Asia, while the dollar rose on Tuesday after a hot inflation reading in Germany heightened nerves about the pace and scale of looming interest rate hikes.

Rising energy prices added to worry about the persistence of consumer pain. Brent crude futures touched a two-month top of $122.43 a barrel after the European Union vowed to slash imports of Russian oil by year's end.

In equities, S&P 500 futures gave up early gains to fall back to flat early in the Asian session, and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.4%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) snapped a two-day winning streak and dropped 0.2%. Japan's Nikkei (.N225) fell 0.1%.

U.S. treasuries slumped on return from Monday's U.S. holiday, sending the yield of the 10-year bond up nearly 10 basis points (bps) to 2.8405%.

The dollar traded on Tuesday at $1.0744 per euro , up 0.3%, and 128.16 yen , about 0.4% higher.

The trade-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars fell, with the Aussie last down 0.2% at $0.7180 and the kiwi down 0.4% at $0.6530.

Oil prices rose after the European Union agreed to slash oil imports from Russia by the end of 2022.

U.S. crude futures rose to $117.70 a barrel.

The stronger dollar pushed spot gold a fraction lower to $1,848 an ounce. Bitcoin rallied hard overnight, jumping nearly 8% and topping $32,000 for the first time in three weeks. It sat just below there at $31,540 early in the Asian session.

BITCOIN SURGES NEARLY 8% TO $31,780

Bitcoin rose 7.93 % to $31,780.51 at 2200 GMT on Monday, up $2,334.8 from its previous close.

The world's biggest and best-known cryptocurrency is up 25.1% from the year's low of $25,401.05 on May 12.

Ether , the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain network, rose 9.8 % to $1,989.38 on Monday, adding $177.54 to its previous close.

In the Crypstation cafe in downtown Buenos Aires, trendy young Argentines order their lattes and pastries surrounded by screens with real-time cryptocurrency price quotes and a huge neon Bitcoin logo. The bill can be paid in digital money, too.

Savers in the South American nation are increasingly being drawn to cryptocurrency to offset years of painful inflation, now running near 60% - shrugging off a recent market crash and El Salvador's troubled experiment with virtual tender.

An April report from Americas Market Intelligence showed crypto penetration in Argentina was 12%, around double the level of Mexico and Brazil. Adoption in hyperinflation-plagued Venezuela is even higher, according to a recent Chainalysis report

The draw is a lack of confidence in the local peso currency, which has depreciated 14% this year against the dollar. Capital controls limiting foreign exchange to $200 monthly are also spurring crypto adoption.

Annual inflation rose to 58% in April and could go as high as 70% this year, a rate which makes crypto attractive, despite the recent crash which has seen stablecoins like TerraUSD and Tether slide, and bitcoin drop to a 16-month low.

The central bank has warned repeatedly about the risk of investing in volatile digital currencies, and some adopters are taking it carefully.

Sebastian Carsorio, 23, from a poor Escobar neighborhood outside the capital, has little to lose. He is looking to dig himself out of poverty using a homemade cryptocurrency mine he assembled with recycled computer parts from his work.

“Even if (the national currency) loses value, cryptocurrency is not based on the (Argentinian) peso but on dollars or euros, so I will always keep the same value,” Carsorio told Reuters.

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