SYDNEY : Asian stocks were set to start the final week of the quarter on the slide on Monday, while the dollar stood ascendant, as the prospect of high interest rates and poor growth shakes markets.
Last week, stocks and bonds crumbled after the United States and half a dozen other countries raised rates and projected pain ahead. Japan intervened in currency trade to support the yen. Investors lost confidence in Britain's economic management."A weekend of reflection hasn't led anybody to change their opinion," said National Australia Bank's head of currency strategy, Ray Attrill in Sydney.
The euro wobbled to a two-decade low at $0.9660 as risks rise of war escalating in Ukraine, before steadying at $0.9696. "I expect a relatively little impact considering that the League, the party with the least pro-European stance, seems to have come out weak," said Giuseppe Sersale, fund manager and strategist at Anthilia in Milan.