You are here
Regulator of U.S. mortgage giants wants to be ready to for their bankruptcy
Moscow News
Friday, February 4, 2005
http://www.mosnews.com/money/2005/02/04/currencybasket.shtml
Russia's central bank said on Friday it had begun targeting the
ruble's nominal exchange rate against the euro as well as the dollar,
the Reuters news agency reports. The shift is meant to bring currency
policy more in line with trade flows.
The Bank of Russia said in a statement it had begun targeting a dual
currency basket -- made up of 90 U.S. cents and 10 euro cents -- as
of Feb. 1 and would gradually raise the weighting of euros.
"Increases of the weighting of the euro in the twin currency basket,
to a level appropriate for the task of exchange rate policy, will
take place step-by-step as market players adapt," the statement said.
The announcement completes an informal shift undertaken by the
central bank last year, when it was forced by market appreciation
pressures to abandon a de facto nominal peg of the ruble to the
dollar and allow it to rise.
The greenback's weakness on global currency markets, as well as
Russia's oil-driven current account surplus, have led central bankers
to say they were looking more at the euro as a guide to day-to-day
exchange rate targeting.
The central bank said it would continue its "managed" float of the
ruble -- policy jargon for market intervention -- to smooth out
excessive volatility and maintain the stability of the ruble.
Dealers said the statement triggered dollar selling on the local
currency market. One said the policy shift would help stop the ruble
being buffeted by sharp euro-dollar moves, although other dealers
remained at a loss over the practical impact.
"We still don't really understand what it means," said one.
The new twin basket applies to the nominal exchange rate of the ruble.
Russia's central bank also targets the real effective exchange rate
of the ruble, adjusted for inflation against a trade-weighted basket
of currencies, as a benchmark to measure economic competitiveness.
It was also not immediately clear whether the new twin nominal basket
would lead Russia to raise the weighting of euros in its gold and
foreign exchange reserves, which hit an all-time high of $128.3
billion as of Jan. 28.
Russia's reserves are the sixth largest in the world -- and the
largest outside Asia -- and any news on whether the share of euros
may rise is enough to move the euro-dollar exchange rate, dealers say.
----------------------------------------------------
To subscribe to GATA's dispatches, send an e-mail to:
gata-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to:
gata-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
----------------------------------------------------
RECOMMENDED INTERNET SITES
FOR DAILY MONITORING OF GOLD
AND PRECIOUS METALS
NEWS AND ANALYSIS
Free sites:
http://www.cbs.marketwatch.com
http://www.capitalupdates.com/
http://www.silver-investor.com
http://www.thebulliondesk.com/
http://www.goldismoney.info/index.html
http://www.minersmanual.com/minernews.html
http://www.a1-guide-to-gold-investments.com/euro-vs-dollar.html
http://www.investmentrarities.com
http://www.kereport.com
(Korelin Business Report -- audio)
http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/home.htm
(In Spanish)
http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/plata/english.htm
(In English)
http://www.resourceinvestor.com
Subscription sites:
http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/
http://www.interventionalanalysis.com
http://www.investmentindicators.com/
Eagle Ranch discussion site:
http://os2eagle.net/checksum.htm
Ted Butler silver commentary archive:
http://www.investmentrarities.com/
----------------------------------------------------
COIN AND PRECIOUS METALS DEALERS
WHO HAVE SUPPORTED GATA
AND BEEN RECOMMENDED
BY OUR MEMBERS
Blanchard & Co. Inc.
909 Poydras St., Suite 1900
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
888-413-4653
http://www.blanchardonline.com
Centennial Precious Metals
3033 East First Ave., Suite 807
Denver, Colorado 80206
1-800-869-5115
http://www.USAGOLD.com
Michael Kosares, Proprietor
cpm@usagold.com
Colorado Gold
222 South 5th St.
Montrose, Colorado 81401
http://www.ColoradoGold.com
Don Stott, Proprietor
1-888-786-8822
Gold@gwe.net
El Dorado Discount Gold
Box 11296
Glendale, Arizona 85316
http://www.eldoradogold.net
Harvey Gordin, President
Office: 623-434-3322
Mobile: 602-228-8203
harvey@eldoradogold.net
Gold & Silver Investments Ltd.
Mespil House
37 Adelaide Rd
Dublin 2
Ireland
+353 1 2315260/6
Fax: +353 1 2315202
http://www.goldinvestments.org
info@gold.ie
Investment Rarities Inc.
7850 Metro Parkway
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55425
http://www.gloomdoom.com
Greg Westgaard, Sales Manager
1-800-328-1860, Ext. 8889
gwestgaard@investmentrarities.com
Kitco
178 West Service Road
Champlain, N.Y. 12919
Toll Free:1-877-775-4826
Fax: 518-298-3457
and
620 Cathcart, Suite 900
Montreal, Quebec H3B 1M1
Canada
Toll-free:1-800-363-7053
Fax: 514-875-6484
http://www.kitco.com
Lee Certified Coins
P.O. Box 1045
454 Daniel Webster Highway
Merrimack, New Hampshire 03054
http://www.certifiedcoins.com
Ed Lee, Proprietor
1-800-835-6000
leecoins@aol.com
Miles Franklin Ltd.
3015 Ottawa Ave. South
St. Louis Park, Minn. 55416
1-800-822-8080 / 952-929-1129
fax: 952-925-0143
http://www.milesfranklin.com
Contacts: David Schectman,
Andy Schectman, and Bob Sichel
Missouri Coin Co.
11742 Manchester Road
St. Louis, MO 63131-4614
info@mocoin.com
314-965-9797
1-800-280-9797
http://www.mocoin.com
Resource Consultants Inc.
6139 South Rural Road
Suite 103
Tempe, Arizona 85283-2929
Pat Gorman, Proprietor
1-800-494-4149, 480-820-5877
Metalguys@aol.com
Swiss America Trading Corp.
15018 North Tatum Blvd.
Phoenix, Arizona 85032
http://www.swissamerica.com
Dr. Fred I. Goldstein, Senior Broker
1-800-BUY-COIN
FiGoldstein@swissamerica.com
----------------------------------------------------
HOW TO HELP GATA
If you benefit from GATA's dispatches, please
consider making a financial contribution to
GATA. We welcome contributions as follows.
By check:
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
c/o Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer
7 Villa Louisa Road
Manchester, CT 06043-7541
USA
By credit card (MasterCard, Visa, and
Discover) over the Internet:
http://www.gata.org/creditcard.html
By GoldMoney:
http://www.GoldMoney.com
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
Holding number 50-08-58-L
Donors of $750 or more will, upon request,
be sent a print of Alain Despert's colorful
painting symbolizing our cause, titled GATA.
Donors of $200 or more will receive a copy
of The ABCs of Gold Investing by Michael
Kosares, proprietor of Centennial Precious
Metals in Denver, Colorado.
GATA is a civil rights and educational
organization under the U.S. Internal Revenue
Code and contributions to it are tax-deductible
in the United States.
