Welcome back to this week’s second report on the state of the currency markets. As we look through the various currencies appearing on the currency converter this week, we will be particularly interested to see how the British pound is doing. Last time we saw that it has been struggling to maintain a good exchange rate with any of the five currencies we regularly look at. Could it be that we will start to see an improvement now, or are we in for another long swathe of bad results?
At the end of last week the pound had actually done better than it had for the first half of the week. It was up against four out of the five currencies, with the best result coming against the US dollar. It managed to add on nearly two cents there.
Elsewhere the pound had achieved a tiny increase of 0.0023 against the Euro, finishing on 1.1009 as a result. The Hong Kong dollar also lost out but to a bigger extent, with the exchange rate going in favour of the pound by 0.149. The pound also went up by just over a cent against the New Zealand dollar and a tiny 0.0024 against the Aussie dollar.
But what would happen next? Let’s find out now.
An overview of the currency markets for March 15th – March 16th 2010
Let’s tackle the first two days of this week to see what happened. Last time we had an exchange rate to close the week of 1.5154 against the US dollar. We didn’t get the best start to the week though, because we ended up losing around a cent on that single day. By the end of Monday night the pound was on 1.5052.
Tuesday was a little better however as we upped that to 1.5131. So there was very little difference all in all, although we did end up in a slightly lower position than we had started the week on.
But what would happen against the Euro? Would we end up with a similar result there as well?
We were starting from 1.1009 here and we had a similar result on day one of the week as we had against the US dollar. We were in for a loss on that first day, resulting in the British pound dipping back to 1.0982 by the close of play.
And once again Tuesday turned out to be the saviour at this early stage. By the time the markets closed the pound was back up to 1.1026. This at least meant we had gained a tiny amount over the two days – 0.0017 to be exact. Hopefully this bodes well for the remaining three days of the week as they play out, but as always we shall have to be patient to see what actually happens.
Last time we left the pound on a rate of 11.756 against the Hong Kong dollar. We’d had an increase of 0.149 at the end of last week, but could this be carried on into a fresh week as well?
It certainly wouldn’t on day one, which again turned out to be disappointing as far as those looking for a strong start were concerned. By Monday evening the pound had fallen back to an exchange rate of 11.679. Could Tuesday come back and seize the opportunity to do better once more?
Indeed it could, and by Tuesday evening the exchange rate against the Hong Kong dollar had gone back up to 11.742. This was good news but it still left us slightly lower than it had been compared to the starting point of the week.
With all this to think about it’s time to go across to New Zealand now to see whether we could improve on the closing rate of 2.1554 from last week. Monday didn’t bode well as we dropped back to 2.1490, but considering the results we had seen from other currencies this didn’t unduly worry us.
However Tuesday did not follow the same pattern of springing back to life again as it had before. Instead the pound suffered a further loss, falling to 2.1476 as a result. This bagged a total loss of 0.0078, which we are now hoping to regain over the three remaining days of the week.
Finally it is time to check out Australia. Last time we left the pound with an exchange rate of 1.6504, and we were eager to try and add on some more. The predictable loss of Monday came as no surprise when it repeated the pattern here as well, bagging us a rate of 1.6498 by Monday evening. But at least we were able to buck things up the following day, and we finished on 1.6545 the next night.
So it was a mixed bag of results this time around, and we are cautiously optimistic that perhaps it won’t be a washout week as we have seen before.
Notable events in the world of currency
US dollar goes down initially against the Euro
It was a disappointing start to the week for the US dollar as it dipped against the Euro. Monday turned into Tuesday with the dollar going from 0.7296 to 0.7287.
Aussie dollar dips against New Zealand dollar
Another currency to have a bad start to the week was the Aussie dollar. It went from 1.3025 on Monday night down to 1.2980 on Tuesday.
Slight dip for Euro vs Canadian dollar
Monday night saw the Euro close on 1.3972 against the Canadian dollar. And just one day later saw a changed rate of 1.3944.
A report from the Reuters website on Monday – gave more information on how the pound is faring against other currencies.
So that’s all we have for you now, as the exchange rates set up an interesting second half to the week. We shall be back soon to tell you how it all wrapped up in the final three trading days of the week.
I like the links to the Reuters website and to the others you use in these reports. It gives another angle on the recent currency news, as well as giving a greater understanding of what causes the pound to be behaving in a certain way.
I always go through and read those after I have read the main report, and quite often I understand more because of it. I still come here for starters though because I would get confused by too much technical information! It is the accessibility I particularly like with this site, which is why it really is worth coming back for the twice weekly reports. I wonder if the pound will be improving over the coming months though. I hope so.