Currencies

• EUR/USD The euro gained a bit of cross-trading traction from the dollar's drop against the yen.
  • The euro changed hands at $1.4012, rising from $1.3975 late Tuesday and was trading at 1.39989 around 7:30 a.m. London time.


• USD/JPY The dollar steadied against Japan's currency Wednesday after a sudden drop to a nearly four-month low.
  • The dollar was changing hands at ¥79.41, compared with ¥79.40 in late North American trading on Tuesday but well above the dollar's Tuesday intraday low of ¥78.48 on the EBS trading platform.
  • It was trading at 79.526 around 7a.m. London time.


• GBP/USD The dollar rose against the British pound.
  • It bought $1.5938, compared with $1.5994 Tuesday.

Commodities

• Gold rallied to a record as fears about Europe's sovereign-debt crisis urged investment demand for a safe haven.
  • The metal for immediate delivery was little changed at $1,565.30 an ounce at 11:32 a.m. in Singapore after touching $1,573.65 yesterday.
  • Gold for August delivery on the Comex in New York rose as much as 0.5 percent to $1,569.90 an ounce.

• Oil declined from a three-day high in New York as investors bet that increasing U.S. crude supplies and Europe's spreading debt crisis signaled demand for raw materials may weaken.
  • Crude for August delivery slipped as much as 90 cents to $96.53 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $97.16 at 11:35 a.m. Singapore time.

Equities

• U.S. stocks declined after Ireland's downgrade to junk added to concern Europe is losing control of the credit crisis and overshadowed evidence the Federal Reserve hasn't ruled out more stimulus.
  • The S&P 500 dropped 0.4 percent to 1,313.64 at 4 p.m. in New York.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 58.88 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,446.88.


• European stocks declined amid fears the debt crisis may spread to Italy and Spain, sending investors away from stocks.
  • Thomas Cook Group Plc (TCG), Europe's second-largest tour operator, plunged 28 percent after cutting its full-year profit forecast.
  • The U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 1.02 percent.
  • Germany's DAX lost 0.78 percent and France's CAC 40 Index decreased 0.88 percent.

• Asian stocks were mostly higher Wednesday after stronger-than-expected data in China reduced concerns about a slowdown in growth in the world's second largest economy.
  • China Construction Bank Corp. (939), the nation's second-biggest lender, climbed 2.9 percent in Hong Kong.
  • The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.6 percent to 135.25 as of 12:21 p.m. in Tokyo.
  • Japan's Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average swung between gains of 0.5 percent and losses of 0.4 percent.
  • Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and China's Shanghai Composite Index both gained 0.9 percent.

Sources: Bloomberg, FT