HIGHLIGHTS
WORLD ECONOMIC & MARKET DEVELOPMENTS
GLOBAL MARKETS: In FX markets, the CHF remained under pressure in European trade on Friday following the SNB’s unexpected decision y-day to impose negative rates on sight deposits for the first time since the 1970’s in an attempt to avert safe-haven flows into Switzerland mainly on the back of persisting jitters over Russia.
GREECE: As expected, the German parliament endorsed on Thursday a 2-month extension to Greece’s current EFSF program (i.e., to end February 2015) and provisionally approved an ESM precautionary credit line to be granted, provided that the present program review will have been completed on time. Meanwhile, Alexis Tsipras, leader of the main opposition party SYRIZA, was quoted as saying in an interview with Reuters y-day that his party is committed to keeping Greece in the Euro area adding that, if his party comes to power “we have no intention to make unilateral moves as regards the debt and the loan agreement”.
SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE
SERBIA: The dinar moved higher against the euro on Thursday recovering some of its sharp losses recorded over the last few weeks.
ROMANIA: In spite of persisting domestic and global jitters, the EUR/RON remained trapped within a tight range on Thursday amid ongoing market talk of renewed intervention by the Central Bank.