As the crisis in Ukraine sent oil prices soaring and fuelled fears of a stagflationary shock that may smash Europe, the euro fell to a new 22-month low against the dollar, while commodity currencies surged to multi-month highs. In Asian trade, the euro plummeted as much as 1percent to USD1.0822, its lowest level since May 2020. It's dropped more than 4percent since Russia launched a "special military operation" in Ukraine, and it's close to hitting its bottom of $1.0636 from 2020.
It also dipped below one Swiss franc for the first time since the Swiss stopped pegging their currency to the euro in 2015, hitting 0.9970. Oil prices soared more than 20percent last week to levels not seen since 2008, as the US and Europe considered imposing sanctions on Russian supplies. Wheat has reached a 14-year high.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars both increased by 0.9 percent, reaching four-month highs. "The euro is being picked on," said Sean Callow, a senior economist at Westpac in Sydney. He stated, "(The battle) is on Europe's doorstep."
The euro sank to a 15-month low of 124.39 yen on Monday, and the pound fell to 82.01 pence, its lowest level since mid-2016. Over the last month, the euro has lost more than 10percent against the Australian dollar. The volatility indexes for the euro and the dollar have reached their highest levels since March 2020.
World food prices reached an all-time high in February
