So here we are again with another brand new report giving the latest information on what is happening with regard to the British pound in the currency markets. If you have been keeping an eye on your currency calculator over the past couple of days you may already have seen what has been going on. If not, we are about to fill you in on the latest developments for the pound.
As last week ended we saw a raft of bad results for the British pound. In those last three days of the week we had lost out on nearly three cents against the US dollar, while the loss against the Euro was at least limited to just over a cent. The loss against the Hong Kong dollar was equally troubling at 0.23 over the course of three days.
Elsewhere we also dropped back by 0.0132 against the New Zealand dollar, with more than two cents lost against the Australian dollar as well. Clearly there was no good news to finish the week with in this case, so we can only hope things got better as the first two days of trading this week got underway.
But could the pound really pull back and do better for these couple of days or would it have a fight on its hands right from the start? Let’s find out now by seeing what the figures were for those two dates.
An overview of the currency markets for February 22nd – February 23rd 2010
The closing exchange rate we managed to cling onto last week for the US dollar was a miserable 1.5392. After that loss of nearly three cents we needed a good start here, so what could we do?
As it turned out we started the week off in the right fashion, with a Monday night increase which saw us improve to 1.5489. We then lost some ground on Tuesday and slipped back to 1.5424, but at least this gave us enough to focus on for a better week ahead – hopefully, anyway.
Moving on to the Euro now, we last left the pound on an exchange rate of 1.1385. But we couldn’t manage a good start to the week here, although our losses were at least kept back to small ones. By the close of play on Monday the pound was worth 1.1367 Euros, and just one day later that had slipped a little further to 1.1361. Hopefully we will be able to rectify this as we move towards a better ending to the week.
Our third stop as always concerns the Hong Kong dollar. Last time we left it on 11.954, but by Monday night we had done rather better and managed to drag ourselves back to an exchange rate of 12.025. This peak didn’t last long though and the fall came the following day to 11.972. This was at least slightly higher than we had started the week with though.
New Zealand is our next stop as always; and here we left things on an exchange rate of 2.2175 after a loss of more than a cent during the last three days of the previous week. And things were not set to get any better here either.
By the end of Monday the exchange rate had dropped back to 2.2032, and Tuesday brought no better news, even though the rate of loss abated somewhat. The end of the day brought a lower rate of 2.2021 to think about before moving on to our final currency of the day.
This was as always the Aussie dollar, which was two cents better off against the British pound last week thanks to a poor performance by the pound during the last three days. From a standing start of 1.7273 on Monday morning, things deteriorated during the day until we were left with a closing rate of 1.7179. And once again things got worse rather than better as Tuesday came to an end, with a closing rate of 1.7121 to contend with.
So it wasn’t the best start to the week for the British pound. We can only hope that the rates get better as the second half of the week gets underway.
Notable events in the world of currency
New Zealand dollar and Australian dollar are neck and neck
It was a tough start to the week between these two currencies, as the opening rate of 0.7789 for the New Zealand dollar against the Aussie dollar improved slightly to 0.7797 on Monday night. But a drop back to 0.7774 on Tuesday proved there was a lot to play for.
US dollar loses ground against the Canadian dollar
It wasn’t a good start for these two either – particular the US dollar. From a starting rate of 1.0514 on Monday morning the US dollar fell to 1.0372 by the close of play. It then rallied to 1.0438 on Tuesday night.
Swiss franc improves against Chinese currency
This could be one worth watching for the rest of the week – the Swiss franc started on 6.3020 against the Chinese currency. But on Monday night it soared to 6.3497 before dropping back slightly to 6.3193 on Tuesday evening. Will it regain some strength as the week plays out?
We have seen some interesting currency related news stories this week, not least this one from Bloomberg. This site is one of the most reliable ones for currency news so it pays to keep an eye on the latest developments there.
So we haven’t had the most promising start to the week as far as the British pound is concerned. But perhaps we are due for a rallying performance now, and with three days left to go this week we could still turn things around and do something amazing.
Somehow though, we aren’t feeling too confident about doing that. We will have to wait and see what transpires over the next few days, and we will of course get back to you with a fresh report on what happened at the start of next week.