Welcome to another monthly spotlight report on the British pound and how it has performed recently against another major world currency. For this report we are going to see how the pound did against the Hong Kong dollar, one of the major currencies we often look at on our currency converter.
At the end of April the pound was claiming an exchange rate of 11.877 against the Hong Kong dollar, so we were aiming to improve on this fairly quickly if at all possible. The first week showed that the Hong Kong dollar was the one in charge, forcing the pound down to 11.733 by the 6th. But there was a bigger drop in store for the following day, as the pound finished that first week on a total of 11.423.
We hadn’t made the best start to the month, but hopefully we could improve from here on in. We certainly made a more positive start to the next week as we finished Monday evening on 11.675 instead. Unfortunately it didn’t last and we ended up having a choppy week which resulted in the British pound ending on a total of 11.343.
So far the pound was having a tough time, but there was a long way to go in the month yet. And in fact we had a lower rate of 11.260 on the cards by the end of the first day of the subsequent week, which turned out to be going in the favour of the Hong Kong dollar as well. This was clearly not going to be a good time for the pound – it may even be a month to forget in terms of the exchange rate we might end up with by the close of the month.
The low point of the week was a dreadful 11.132, but we managed to pull that back to 11.207 by the end of the week. At least it didn’t end quite as badly as it could have done.
The following week, which was the final full week of May, saw another new low for the pound to achieve. This was 11.193, but we did manage to put some hard work in and mounted a fresh challenge to the Hong Kong dollar for the remainder of the week. And luckily for us the high point of the whole week turned out to be the closing exchange rate we managed to bag on Friday evening. This was 11.350, so we had at least pulled back some ground after the dismal low point we had seen earlier on.
There was just one day of trading left on the final day of the month, which was a Monday. This saw the British pound claim a rate of 11.301 to close on. This was still well down on the opening rate for May though, which had been a full 0.576 higher. So we can only hope that June turns out to be a much better month in terms of our standing with the Hong Kong dollar.
For my money – literally – I hope the British pound improves against the Hong Kong dollar in the future. As a British business person who imports goods from several different countries, Hong Kong included, it is in my best interests to keep a close eye on the currency markets. The rises and falls have a significant effect on how my bottom line is affected.
A stronger pound here would be good for me because I would be able to import goods more cheaply than I can at the moment. I doubt whether the results will be that good for the long term though; we tend to see smaller rises and falls against the Hong Kong dollar, all of which even out over time.