- AIG Board OKs CEO Pay; Benmosche Agrees to Stay
- Obama Reiterates Commitment to Boost US-India Ties
- FDIC's Bair Cautions on Risks in Bank Break-Up Plan
- Wednesday's Economic News Crunch Could Tilt Markets
- Call Me Crazy: Confessions of a Black Friday Shopper
- 'Very Blah' Christmas Is Coming for UK Retailers
- US Firms Hit by Payroll Taxes at Exactly the Wrong Time
- Citi Mortgage Reveals Something the US Treasury Won't
- In Time for Holidays: More Gloom and Doom on Economy
- Citi Mortgage Reveals What Treasury Won't
- S&P to Hit 1,200 by Year-End: Chief Investor
- Amended Berkshire Hathaway Filing Indicates No Secret Stock Stakes at End of Q3
- Facebook's Biggest-Ever Holiday Shopping Season
- Facebook's New Dual Class Structure - Slow Steps to an IPO
- 5 Big Bank Stocks Investors Should Consider: Strategists
- Gambling Drunk, Texting to Live And America's On Sale - Your Emails
- Nov. 24: Unusual Volume Leaders
- NBA D-League On The Rise
MOST SHARED
- Wednesday's Economic News Crunch Could Tilt Markets
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- The Social Media Gaming Threat
- NBA D-League On The Rise
- Obama Reiterates Commitment to Boost US-India Ties
- Stifling Anger at Work Can Kill, Survey Finds
- Australia Wheat Exporters Face Challenges: GrainCorp
- Japan Export Rebound Eases Fear of New Recession
Text Size 
Some of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds are seeking to scale back their exposure to the U.S. dollar in a sign of global concern about the currency, the Financial Times reported on its online site.
 |
The report, published during the Asian day on Thursday, said one large sovereign fund in the Gulf had cut its dollar-denominated holdings from more than 80 percent a year ago to less than 60 percent, but gave no source.
The FT also said China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) had been looking to strike deals with private equity firms in Europe as a part of a plan to reduce its U.S. dollar holdings, citing people familiar with the matter.
The shift at China's SAFE was significant because it manages all of the country's $1.8 trillion in foreign currency reserves.
Traders said the U.S. dollar eased a little on Thursday morning as the report circulated, though investors have long suspected that sovereign funds would be inclined to trim their holdings given the long fall in the currency.
"That's something that's been happening over the course of time, that there's been a supply of dollars on any given rally," said Rick Lloyd, head of G10 currency trading at ABN AMRO in Singapore. "The dollar just seems to be getting pushed around in the backwater of flows in other markets at the moment," he added.
The dollar had bounced on Wednesday after U.S. financial shares staged a big rally and a high inflation reading seemed to rule out any further cut in U.S. interest rates.
On Thursday, the euro [EUR-TN Loading... ()] was at $1.5838, up from $1.5817 late in New York but off the week's record high of $1.6038.
The FT report said SAFE has been holding talks with Europe-based private equity firms about putting billions of dollars into their latest funds, precisely because these funds are not dollar-denominated.
By allocating money to Europe-based private equity firms, SAFE could diversify away from the dollar, at least at the margin, without unnerving the currency markets and driving the dollar down in a disorderly manner, said the FT.
In addition, SAFE is encouraging the private equity firms with which it has relationships to make investments in natural resources companies in markets outside the United States, in part to hedge its exposure to the dollar, said the report.
Print
Email
- Remember when auto shows were major events where new models could generate buzz?
- CNBC’s Mike Huckman visits a cutting-edge plant to see how the flu vaccine of the future is being made.
- People who bottle up their anger at work are up to five times more likely to suffer a heart attack, a study found.
- Playboy will outsource its publishing operations in a bid to become profitable again.
- A new McDonald's in Manhattan is the nation's first to sport a sleek, chic interior imported from stores in London and Paris.
- For nearly three decades, these on-call experts have been dishing advice on how to – and not to – cook turkey.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes