The euro declined on the last day of the month on caution about developments in Ukraine as well as limited progress in peace talks. On Thursday, the Norwegian crown declined sharply as oil prices plunged and after the central bank decided to buy foreign currency.
Ukrainian troops are preparing for new Russian attacks according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The euro declined 0.5% against the U.S. dollar to $1.1105 after hitting its highest since March 1 at $1.1184 earlier in the session.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six peers, gained 0.3% to 98.150.
The Russian ruble dropped 8% versus the U.S. dollar to 81.82.
Investors also monitor the European Central Bank (ECB). They focused on the ECB’s next moves after robust inflation data. On Thursday, the ECB’s President Christine Lagarde stated that euro zone inflation was increasingly likely to stabilize at around 2%. Still, the central bank should be ready to change course if the outlook deteriorates due to the war in Ukraine.
Norwegian crown and the euro on March 31
The Norwegian currency declined after oil prices fell and the country’s central bank said it would buy foreign currency for its sovereign wealth fund in April.
It plans to exchange 2 billion crowns ($231.9 million) per day into foreign currency. The wealth fund will invest the foreign currency abroad.
The Norwegian crown plunged 1.6% against the euro. It fell to the lowest level against the euro since March 18. The Norwegian crown dropped 2.1% versus the U.S. dollar to 8.7485.
Furthermore, it is not far from its highest level since October 2018 against the euro zone at 9.4424, and its highest since November 2021 versus the U.S. dollar at 8.5675.
Apart from the Norwegian crown other commodity currencies also declined on Thursday. The Australian and New Zealand dollars declined by around 0.4%.
