* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
* ECB holds emergency meeting
* Coronavirus grips financial markets
* Some investors hoarding dollars
By Stanley White
TOKYO, March 19 (Reuters) - The euro rose against the dollar
and the pound on Thursday after the European Central Bank
announced a 750 billion euro asset-purchase programme in
response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Sterling teetered near the lowest since at least 1985
against the greenback. The Australian dollar was pinned near a
17-year low, while the New Zealand dollar fell to an 11-year low
as price dislocations and low liquidity in other financial
markets sparks an investor exodus into cash.
The ECB said the new programme, which targets public- and
private-sector assets, will be conducted until the end of 2020.
The ECB's announcement is the latest in a series of steps by
major central banks this week to offset the impact the
coronavirus outbreak is having on the global economy and
financial markets.
Analysts say the euro's gains could be short-lived because
many investors are selling what they can to keep their money in
dollars due to the unprecedented amount of uncertainty caused by
the virus epidemic.
"The euro is being bought because the ECB, which had
previously seen as somewhat reluctant to move, has come out with
something very bold," said Takuya Kanda, general manager of the
research department at Gaitame.com Research Institute in Tokyo.
"However, unless the number of new virus cases starts to
fall, no amount of central bank action may be enough. There is
an extreme form of risk aversion right now which will support
dollar buying in the end."
The euro EUR=EBS rose 0.37% to $1.0953 early in Asia on
Thursday. Against the pound, the euro rose 0.6% to 94.30 pence.
The euro EURCHF=EBS rose 0.22% to 1.0590 Swiss franc.
Against the yen EURJPY=EBS , the common currency gained
0.56% t 118.66.
The ECB's purchase scheme, which was announced at an
emergency meeting late on Wednesday, came less than a week after
policymakers launched fresh stimulus measures.
The new asset-purchase programme will also include debt from
Greece, which has so far been shut out of ECB bond purchases due
to its low credit rating, the ECB said.
The pound GBP=D3 was last quoted at $1.1643. Sterling
tumbled to $1.1450 on Wednesday, the lowest since at least 1985,
as the rush into dollars left no currency unscathed.
The New Zealand dollar NZD=D3 hit an 11-year low of
$0.5696 early in Asian trade.
The Australian dollar AUD=D3 bounced 0.5% $0.5794 in Asia
from a 17-year reached on Wednesday as the Reserve Bank of
Australia pumped a record A$12.7 billion into the banking system
on Thursday. Against the yen JPY=EBS , the greenback roe 0.2% to 108.32.
Global markets have experienced months of turmoil as the
coronavirus, which emerged in central China late last year, has
now spread to more than 100 countries and claimed more than
8,000 lives. The heightened uncertainty around previously unknown virus,
which has triggered emergency lockdowns and injections of cash
unseen since World War Two, is causing investors to abandon
traditional trading strategies in favour of selling what they
can to keep their money in dollars.