Exclusive Capital Selects Trade Processor Ecosystem by Tools for Brokers

Posted on July 16, 2021July 16, 2021 by Exclusive Capital Team

We are delighted to announce a new partnership with leading technology firm Tools for Brokers (TBF) and join their ecosystem for stronger liquidity bridging. Our company will be using TBF’s Trade Processor liquidity bridge on the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms.

Tools for Brokers is a well-known technology provider of MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 solutions. The company offers a wide range of products and services to address the most critical needs of financial brokers. TBF has expanded services significantly since the start of 2021, and Trade Processor has been developed to addresses specific challenges that global financial brokers are facing these days. With Trade Processor, a liquidity bridge, being the cornerstone of the ecosystem, it is supported by an advanced monitoring and reporting solution, a money management system, and multiple plugins and applications targeting specific broker challenges.

Commenting on the recent selection of TFB’s Trade Processor ecosystem, Exclusive Capital’s Managing Director Lambros Lambrou said: “We are pleased to partner with Tools for Brokers and integrate their liquidity bridge into our infrastructure. TFB has a long history of providing reliable and modern broker solutions, so we are confident that this partnership will benefit our clients and will help us strengthen our position in the market.”

In a recent interview Albina Zhdanova, the COO of Tools for Brokers commented: “We are glad to have Exclusive Capital join us as partners. As a global broker with a long-standing history in the trading world, they provide investors with an excellent service, and we are glad we can support them in their further expansion.”

Looking forward to fruitful cooperation.

“Delta” variant and economic concerns weigh on the forex market

Posted on July 15, 2021July 16, 2021 by Vrasidas Neofytou

Growing concerns about the fast-spreading “Delta” variant and inflation fears have been dominating the forex market since the start of July.

Forex investors have been reassessing their bets since the spread of the highly infectious variant across the world has fuelled worries about a slowdown in global economic recovery.

Currencies tied to the economic comeback such as Euro and Pound Sterling and the commodity-exposed Australian and Canadian dollar have weighed on the risk-off mood.

A surge in “Delta” variant cases in Britain and the Eurozone has deteriorated the post-pandemic economic outlook, sending the Pound Sterling and the Euro to multi-month lows against major currencies.

The Aussie has dropped to a seven-month low as a spike in Covid cases in Sydney raised the prospects of an extended lockdown together with falling industrial metal prices.

The Canadian and New Zealand dollar have lost some ground against major peers, as the resumption of social restriction measures to curb the spread of the virus, will hit demand for commodities in the near term.

Meanwhile, the general risk aversion sentiment had supported the safe-haven currencies of the US dollar, Japanese Yen and Swiss Franc.

Tokyo 2020 Olympics to be held without spectators on Covid outbreak in Japan

Posted on July 15, 2021July 15, 2021 by Vrasidas Neofytou

Just a few days before the summer Tokyo 2020 Olympic opening ceremony on Friday, July 23, Japan declared a state of emergency to curb a wave of new Covid-19 infections in the country, especially in the host city of Tokyo.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are scheduled from July 23 to August 08, and they will be held under unparalleled circumstances and strict quarantine policies following government’s decision to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo until August 22.

Concerns are mounting in Japan over the ability of its regions to deal with a spike in coronavirus cases, as the Delta variant spreads quickly across the country.

The host city Tokyo reported over 1,100 new daily COVID-19 cases this week, the most in nearly six months. Japan faces a relatively slow rollout of vaccines, with only 25% of the population having at least one vaccine shot until today.

Market Reaction:

Nikkei 225 index lost more than 1% on Thursday, following the rapid rise in Covid-19 cases in Tokyo, ahead of the opening of the Tokyo Olympics next week. The index has lost more than 10% since posted an all-time high of 30,500 on Feb 16, 2021.

Holding Tokyo Olympics without fans:

With Tokyo suffering a state of emergency, the Olympics organizers had no option but to ban all spectators at Olympic events in the city and areas nearby. This is the latest delay for the Summer Olympics that has already been delayed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The eight venues built specifically for the “historic” Games at a cost of around $3 billion will be near empty, including the 70,000-seat National Stadium, completed in 2019, since no foreign or Japanese fans will be allowed in the stadiums.

Coronavirus outbreaks at the Tokyo Olympics:

More than 10,000 Olympic and 4,400 Paralympic athletes are expected to travel to Japan to compete, along with more than 40,000 coaches, judges, and staff also set to attend.

The athletes and the staff will be kept in Covid-19 Olympic village “bubble” with many social restrictions, and without having any chance to meet the public.

Yet, many athletes and members of national Olympics teams have already tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Tokyo for the games and are kept in “bubble-hotels”, separated from other guests that have not been infected.

China’s exports grew faster than expected despite “Delta” virus outbreak

Posted on July 14, 2021 by Vrasidas Neofytou

Chinese equities advanced by more than 1% this morning following better-than-expected China’s trade data for June on robust global demand, despite the spread of the highly infectious “Delta” Covid variant in the Asian-Pacific region.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index reacted positively to the trade data, settling to near the 28,000 mark, up 1,6%, while mainland’s bourse Shanghai composite rose 0.50% to close at 3,566.

China’s trade data for June:

China’s customs administration surprised the market analysts on the upside by announcing that China’s exports for June were 32.2% higher than June 2020, which was also much greater than a forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll for a 23.1% growth in exports for the same month. The data also showed Chinese imports in June surging 36.7%, with the values boosted by higher cost of commodities prices, such as crude oil, copper, soybeans, iron ore, and natural gas.

Improved global economic outlook boosts China’s exports:

Given the global easing in pandemic-led social restriction measures and the successful vaccination campaigns, global economies have started recovering faster than expected from the pandemic, driving higher retail consumption and worldwide demand for Chinese goods.

The surprisingly strong Chinese trade data in June implied that global demand remained strong and helped reassure investors that the world economy was recovering from the pandemic, despite the spread of the “Delta” variant.

Hence, the People’s Bank of China applies more “accommodative” monetary policies to support the economic growth in the country by cutting the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves, especially as smaller firms were unable to pass on rising raw material costs.

Market analysts expect the Chinese economy to expand 8.6% in 2021, the highest annual growth in a decade, after a 2.3% expansion in pandemic-hit 2020.

However, China has set an annual economic growth target at above 6% in 2021 and a growth of 5.5% in 2022, below analysts’ expectations, giving policymakers more room to cope with pandemic-led uncertainties.

“Delta” covid variant threat ahead:

A customs official warned yesterday that China’s trade growth may slow in the second half of 2021, partly reflecting the Covid-19 pandemic uncertainties as the “Delta” variant has been fast-spreading across the region.

The trade performance of the world’s second-biggest economy has seen some pressure in Q2 2021, as the higher commodities prices hurt manufacturing activity, while the global semiconductor shortage, logistics disruptions, and higher shipping-freight costs weigh on the global consumer spending.

US dollar hits 3-month high while commodity-linked currencies tumble

Posted on July 8, 2021July 8, 2021 by Vrasidas Neofytou

US dollar continued its upward momentum on Thursday morning, climbing to the highest level since early April after minutes of the Federal Reserve’s June meeting indicated a possible tapering of its asset purchases as soon as this year.

Dollar strength against Euro and Sterling:

The DXY-US dollar index against six major currencies rose to as high as 92,70 this morning before retreating to near 92,40.

The elevating dollar and the general market’s risk aversion sentiment have added pressure to EUR/USD pair which dropped below $1,18 level at one point before rebounds to near $1,1830, while the GBP/USD dropped to as low as $1,3750, with both pairs posting a fresh 3-month low.

Risk-off across the commodity-linked currencies:

The bullish sentiment in the greenback coupled with the falling commodities prices has sent the growth risk-sensitive Australia, New Zealand, and Canadian dollars to six-month lows, despite the rate hike expectations from their local central banks.

Both WTI and Brent crude oil contracts have retreated by more than 10% from recent highs, while the price of Copper, Iron ore, Aluminum, and Lumber has lost more than 20% since topping last month.

As a result, investors have start deleveraging some positions in the commodity-linked currencies, with AUD/USD breaking below $0,745 for the first time since December 2020, the NZD/USD falling below the key support level of $0,70, while the USD/CAD bouncing off recent lows towards $1,26 mark.

Hence, other commodities-sensitive currencies such as Norwegian Krone, Mexico Peso, and Russia Ruble have also retreated from their recent multi-year highs against the greenback, following the weakness in the crude oil and base metal prices.

However, the dollar has lost some ground against the safe-haven currencies, breaking below from the key level of 110 to Japanese Yen and losing the 0,92 level against the Swiss Franc amid the risk-off sentiment following the spread of “Delta” covid variant around the world.

WTI crude oil climbs to 6-year high after OPEC+ failed to reach an output deal

Posted on July 6, 2021July 6, 2021 by Vrasidas Neofytou

The energy sector has been outperforming the financial market this week, having surged to multi-year highs following the failure of the talks between oil producer group OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+, to reach a production output agreement.

Investors worry that without a deal, crude oil prices could surge above $80/barrel, threatening the global economic recovery after pandemic and damaging demand growth.

The international benchmark Brent crude rose to as high as $78/barrel on Tuesday morning, hitting its highest since October 2018, while US-based West Texas Intermediate crude advanced to near $77/barrel for the first time since November 2014, on expectations demand growth will exceed supply in next quarters.

OPEC+ alliance failed to reach a deal:

A well-expected virtual meeting between the Middle East-dominated producer group OPEC led by Saudi Arabia and its oil-producing non-OPEC allies led by Russia, an energy alliance often referred to as OPEC+, on crude output policy has been called off on Monday after the United Arab Emirates rejected a proposal to extend oil production increase for August and beyond.

The OPEC+ alliance had already increased supply by 2,1 million barrels per day between May and July, and they were planning to expand the supply by another 400,000 barrels per day for August to meet the accelerating global crude oil demand.

The group failed to reach an agreement over raising the oil supply due to the tension between Saudi Arabia and UAE, despite the preliminary agreement between the de-facto leaders of Saudi Arabia and Russia for a supply increase of 400,000 barrels bpd from August to December 2021.

UAE, a tiny oil-rich country in the Persian Gulf with the world’s famous cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, blocked the deal twice, asking for a revision of the so-called baseline, which determines how much a country is allowed to pump.

The UAE wants its baseline to be revised before extending those cuts till the end of 2022 because it wants to produce more than it is now allowed based on the quota of its current baseline.

The group still keeps some 5.7 million bpd off the market, based on the initial agreement by the OPEC+ alliance to cut production by almost 10 million bpd from May 2020 until April 2022.

Supply/Demand imbalance boosts oil prices:

Energy analysts estimate that the crude oil market has been around a 2 million bpd deficit with fuel demand surging ahead of the summer driving season and the resumption of global travelling.

The OPEC+’s historic massive production cuts coupled with the recovering gasoline and diesel demand as global economies reopen after the pandemic has helped oil prices bouncing off negative territories reached in April 2020 during Covid-19-led fuel demand shock.

Both WTI and Brent oil prices have gained more than 55% on the year after starting 2021 at below $48/barrel. Demand has increased as people take to the roads amid the economic reopening, and a rebound in goods transportation and air travel also have supported prices.