Swedish krona up as country swings to trade surplus in December

Swedish krona rallied broadly on 27 January helped by better than expected trade data but was down against the euro which was trading off its recent lows.

Sweden recorded a trade surplus of 0.4bn krona in December, compared with a deficit of 0.2bn krona a year earlier, as exports rose 4.83% while imports increased at a slightly lower 4.125, data showed on Tuesday.

It was a swing from the previous month's deficit too although it was the smallest trade surplus in more than six years.

USD/SEK slipped to 8.2379 from the previous close of 8.2833 before edging back up to 8.2690.

The trade data helped the Swedish currency to extend its gains of Monday, on which day it hit a near 6-year low against the dollar before reversing.

EUR/SEK moved mostly on the broad euro performance rather than the Swedish data on Tuesday. The cross was higher in the morning as the common currency was up generally and pared the gains later again tracking euro.

That said, against the euro, the krona hovered near the one-month high of 9.2988 it had touched on Monday. On Tuesday, EUR/SEK was stuck to a narrow range of 9.3620-9.3144.

Another data showed Swedish producer price index fell 0.1% from a year earlier in December after recording a 1.3% increase in November.

The next important data from Sweden will be the January consumer confidence and December retail sales numbers due on Thursday. However, the FOMC rate decision a day before is likely to make a bigger impact on the currency.