The recent attacks in Oslo, Norway, have generated a rapid market reaction with quick sell-offs in regional investments. The Norwegian krone (NOK) was hardest hit by the devastation wrought by the attacker, Anders Behring Breivik, in last Friday’s bombing and shooting rampage.
The knee-jerk reaction of markets during a time of intense unrest is to flee the country under attack. The initial response of Friday’s attack was a quick dump-off in the forex market of regional kroner. The NOK fell versus most of its currency counterparts, the USD chiefly among them.
The EUR/NOK initially fell 0.4% to a 7.8179 before regaining its feet. The USD/NOK saw harsher losses with an approximate 1% value change immediately following the first reports of terrorism from Oslo.
The neighboring kroner were less affected but felt a pull in afternoon trading Friday. All three Scandinavian currencies were heading back into a bullish posture by Monday evening, with the NOK once more slowest to recover. The Swedish krona (SEK) has seen the most rapid bounce back with solid gains seen all week. The Danish krone (DKK) likewise was holding steady with moderate upticks viewed against its major counterparts all day Monday and Tuesday.
Read more forex trading news on our forex blog.