Norway’s Krone Slides After Manufacturing Industry Contraction

By Bo Nielsen

Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Norway’s krone fell against the euro for the second consecutive day after a report showed the nation’s manufacturing industry unexpectedly shrank in August.

The krone also declined versus the dollar. A seasonally adjusted index based on responses from purchasing managers slid to 42.3 from a revised 50.1 in July, Fokus Bank ASA said in a statement today. A reading below 50 signals contraction. The median forecast of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for a reading of 51.

“The development is deviating sharply from developments in other countries,” Camilla Viland, a currency strategist in Oslo for DnB NOR ASA, Norway’s biggest bank, said in a note following the report.

Norway’s currency dropped 0.3 percent to 8.6981 per euro at 9:49 a.m. in Oslo, after weakening as much as 0.5 percent after the Fokus Bank figures. It declined 0.4 percent to 6.1192 against the dollar.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bo Nielsen in Copenhagen at bnielsen4@bloomberg.net