Markets Print edition: 2016-12-19

Danish crown gains spark intervention talks

Published December 19, 2016 Updated December 19, 2016 12:00am

The Danish crown hit its strongest level against the euro since June on Thursday, trading at or near a rate that has in the past two years prompted the central bank to weaken the currency via foreign exchange interventions.
The crown traded at 7.4345 per euro, on track for its sixth straight session of gains as the single currency slid to its lowest against the dollar since January 2003. .
Under Europe's Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM2), a surrogate for euro adoption, the crown is pegged within plus or minus 2.25 percent of a central rate of 7.46038 per euro.
In reality Denmark's central bank has held it in a much tighter range of 0.50 percent either way, via periodic currency interventions and, more rarely, interest rate changes.
Nordea's chief analyst Niels Christensen suggested another intervention was imminent.
"It would create uncertainty and a stronger downward pressure (on the euro) if the central bank didn't intervene at this level," he said.
The central bank has sold crowns in the market this year and last when it rose to around the current level, Christensen said, having earlier this week identified 7.4350 as a possible trigger point for intervention. He said it was too early to assess how big any interventions might be.