History No Friend to Emerging-Market Currencies as August Lands
- Currencies fell this month in seven of the past 10 years
- Drop-off in liquidity seen extending losses from falling oil
Nowhere to Go but Down for Dog Days of August Markets?
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Currencies of developing nations have had a great run since the aftermath of the Brexit vote, posting an advance in the past month or so that’s been bettered just once in 4 1/2 years. Now their gains may be about to come to an abrupt halt -- all because of a quirk of history.
Emerging-market currencies fell in seven of the past 10 Augusts. It’s almost impossible to know why this happened: Aviva Plc calls it a “coincidence” while others attribute it to investors paring holdings of assets considered to be riskier in case they’re caught out while on vacation.