Reuters is reporting tonight the following:
TOKYO, Feb 10 (Reuters) – The euro fell over 1 percent against the yen and the dollar, weighed down by a report that Russia was to request negotiations with European and other foreign banks to postpone repayment of private sector debt.[...]
[...]Russia will request negotiations with European and other foreign banks to postpone repayment on up to $400 billion of its private sector debt, the Nikkei said.
From Bloomberg:
Nikkei newspaper report(s) that Russian banks and businesses may seek to reschedule $400 billion of foreign loans deepened concern financial turmoil in Europe is worsening.[...]
[...]“The Nikkei report of rescheduling debt is driving the euro lower because European financial institutions have a bigger exposure to Russia than their counterparts in other countries,†said Takashi Kudo, Tokyo-based director of foreign-exchange sales at NTT SmartTrade Inc., a unit of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., Japan’s largest fixed-line phone company.[...]
[...]Kazakhstan’s banks may have their ratings cut as the devaluation of the nation’s currency makes it harder for them to repay foreign debt and “substantially increases†credit risk, Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday.
The widening spreads between the interest rates that different euro-area nations must pay bond investors are “worrying developments,†according to a “speaking note†prepared for Luxembourg Finance Minister Jean-Claude Juncker and obtained by Bloomberg News.[...]
