Recent favourable moves in real short-term interest rates in Israel and Russia mean the RUB and the ILS are poised to appreciate, according to Deutsche Bank strategist Henrik Gullberg.

Relatively stable FX markets during the current summer lull have pushed volatility down to its lowest level of the year.

There is a growing disconnect between Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) displeasure in the recent rise in AUDUSD and expectations in the market that central bank intervention is unlikely.

Morgan Stanley has hired a Citi and Deutsche Bank veteran as global head of FX and emerging markets trading.

Central banks in Africa will add more renminbi into their foreign reserves in recognition of China’s sound economic fundamentals and as Sino-Africa trade continues to grow, according to Asiamoney, a sister publication of EuromoneyFXNews.

Royal Bank of Scotland has hired a new head of global electronic distribution responsible for rates, credit, FX and futures across Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific.

For EURUSD bears, the recent slide of short-term euro interest rates below short-term Japanese interest rates – for the first time in modern history – should have heralded a new paradigm in the FX markets: the euro becoming the funding currency of choice, and perhaps the re-emergence of the carry trade as a profitable strategy.

EBS, Thomson Reuters, FXall and CME all released trading volumes for July this week, while CTA and hedge returns started to filter out into the market. They showed contrasting fortunes in for the month.

CTA funds were among the strongest performers in the hedge fund market in July, taking returns for the year back into the black, according to data published by Eurohedge.

Fx contracts are not comparable to other over-the-counter derivative contracts and the European Securities and Markets Authority needs to clarify their position under the European Market Infrastructure Directive, according to the Investment Management Association, writes Derivatives Intelligence, a sister publication of EuromoneyFXNews.

As more and more firms look for ways to trim costs off their IT and trading activities, Broadway Technology, a provider of high-performance trading solutions for banks and hedge funds, has started offering a hosted liquidity aggregator to the FX market that could offer sell-side banks better value for money.

Bank of Montreal has hired a new head of FX strategy to be based in London, the bank said in a statement Thursday.

FX trading volumes in July fell at FXall, the world’s leading mutli-dealer platform with non-financial corporates and asset managers.

Morgan Stanley launched a new FX tool this month that it said can help traders identify currency pairs that are more likely to respond to macroeconomic fundamentals over broad headline risk events.

Draghi is proving a great political maneuverer: “This is what we all agree is needed to save the euro, now, Germans, stop us if you dare”.

Investors have not woken up to it, but last week might have been a game changer for the euro, argues Axel Merk, CEO of Merk Investments.

FX Gateway, Morgan Stanley’s FX platform for institutional investors seeking access to the market, added two new currency manager counterparties: Hong Kong-based Ortus Capital Management and Switzerland’s Quaesta Capital.

David Ngai, a former Macquarie Group official, has joined the Global Financial Markets Association’s global FX division as managing director for Asia Pacific.

Average daily spot FX trading volumes on two of the market's leading primary market electronic platforms, Icap's EBS and Thomson Reuters, fell in July, further confirming a broad slowdown in market activity this year.

The CME released its July trading volume report on Friday, which showed that trading volumes in July fell 29% on the same period in 2011, while options fell 7%, matching a similar trend in the OTC market reported in central bank figures released last week.

Yields on USD Asian debt are at historic lows but the spread over US debt are relatively wide.This attractive carry on Asian credit will increase as global central banks maintain low rates, writes Asiamoney, a sister publication of EuromoneyFXNews

It has been a tumultuous week for Knight Capital Group after it disclosed a $440 million loss from a computer trading glitch, which left the brokerage firm holding losing positions in multiple stocks, which it blamed on software installed earlier this week.

Emerging Market currency indices produced mixed performances in July, providing evidence that the risk-on/risk-off relationship has broken down, according to data from currency index partners.

The release this week of global FX trading volumes from the world’s main central banks has confirmed what many market participants have been saying for months: that there has been flattening of trading volumes across the industry.

FX trading platforms dominated coverage this week as competition heats up. At the same time the potential for some consolidation is never far away. Central banks reported FX trading volumes have been flat, and markets should brace themselves for more volatility in August.

For those hoping that the holiday period will usher in some calm on the world’s currency markets, there is likely to be disappointment.

Trading volume and revenues remain depressed for most Japanese retail FX brokers despite a steady flow of new accounts and deposits, according to research from consultancy group Aite.

Insight Investments, the asset management subsidiary of BNY Mellon, has appointed a new head of currency.

FXSpotStream, an API based electronic communication network (ECN) established by a consortium of leading banks, has gone live seven months after launching, the company said in a statement.

HSBC, which has tripled the amount of business it does with hedge funds since 2010, has hired a new head of FX hedge fund sales from Deutsche Bank, the number-one-ranked counterparty for that sector, an HSBC spokesperson has confirmed.