Currency report: Dollar leads the market

On Thursday, the news about the death of the al-Qaida leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, influenced a very positive sentiment on the dollar. The greenback was also supported by the ECB's decision to raise rates in the eurozone by 25 points. Some investors had bet on a 50-point increase, and after the news came through from Frankfurt am Main, they started to sell the euro against the dollar.

The złoty lost clearly against the dollar and was little changed against the euro. The EUR/PLN cross was traded between zł.3.93 and zł.3.979. The USD/PLN rose from zł.3.035 on Monday morning to zł.3.14 on Friday.

At the end of the week investors began to speculate that Finance Minister Zyta Gilowska had offered to quit following a spat with the ruling conservatives over her tax-reform plans.

The złoty weakened, fearing the disappearance of the guarantor of sound fiscal policy in Poland's conservative-led government.

Marek Węgrzanowski

X-Trade Brokers DM SA