The events of this week in the Middle East and the resulting spike in the oil price has forced Asian Central Banks to swap sides on the intervention stakes from buyers of US Dollars (to keep the local currency weak) to sellers of US Dollars (to keep the local currency from weakening further) . Whilst it might have helped lock in some profits for the ACBs it has taken away one of the supporting pegs for the Euro. Not that the Euro has needed much support this week – it is doing quiet nicely on its own. Furthermore I would not suggest selling on this basis either given the wild moves witnessed in the oil price over the last 24 hours.