Here we are again with another currency report to evaluate. Last time we had a fairly poor showing for the pound over the first two days of the week, with the Euro being the only currency that didn’t get the better of us. Before that report we’d had a mixture of good and bad results for the previous weeks, so perhaps this was an omen of something a little more disappointing.
Before we move on to see how last week ended, let’s see what happened last time. We lost out on a whole cent against the US dollar, leaving us further away from the $1.50 mark we were trying to regain once more.
Elsewhere we had the one good result, gaining just a quarter of a cent against the Euro. But from then on the British pound lost ground against all the other currencies. We dropped a total of 0.088 against the Hong Kong dollar, and there were also big losses against the Kiwi and Aussie dollars.
The New Zealand dollar pushed us back down to 2.0820, after a loss of two and a quarter cents. And it was slightly worse on the currency converter for the British pound as well, when it lost two and a half cents against the Australian dollar.
So can we do better this week or will we have another similar week of woe for the British pound? Let’s see how it went right now, shall we?
An overview of the currency markets for June 23rd – June 25th 2010
Our first port of call is with the US dollar, as the pound tries to find a good close to the week. Last time we left the pound on 1.4697, so can we do any better than this as Friday beckons?
There was certainly a big surprise on the Wednesday, as the closing figure for the day was an impressive 1.4911. Could we actually hold onto this and try and make the most of the rest of the week though?
It definitely looked promising on Thursday as the exchange rate actually went up again, albeit by a smaller amount. This time we finished the day on 1.4981. Could we keep this up for one more day?
Perhaps predictably we did dip down on the last day of trading for the week, ending on 1.4927 on Friday night. But this still gave us a better rate of just over two and a quarter cents over the three days as a whole.
After that great start to the week, let’s move on to see whether we could achieve an equally good rate against the Euro. Remember that this was the only good result we had during the first two days of the week, so what would it turn out to be this time around?
We were starting from a rate of 1.1990 this time, so what could we do with that as the remainder of the week got underway? The first clue came by Wednesday evening, as we ended up with a rate of 1.2152 at the close of play. Once again this was an excellent start, so hopefully we would be able to keep it up. Thursday was better still with a closing rate of 1.2217, and even though we dipped down to 1.2141 on Friday this still meant we had added on a cent and a half against the Euro over those three days.
Let’s move on to the Hong Kong dollar now to see what we could achieve there. From a starting rate of 11.436 we were soon looking at a changed rate of 11.598 just one day later. And it followed the pattern we had seen elsewhere too, as the rate went up again to 11.654 the next day. Friday saw the familiar dip to 11.611, which meant we had added on 0.175 over the final stage of the week.
But what could we do against the New Zealand dollar? Our first answer came at the end of the 23rd, as our opening rate of 2.0820 changed to 2.0994. This was a good start and it soon got even better, with a Thursday night closing rate of 2.1288. The Friday night dip looked to be catching as we fell back marginally to 2.1153, but we had still added on well over three and a quarter cents overall.
Finally we have Australia to look at, where we last left things on 1.6801. Could we make it five out of five good results?
It certainly started off in the right way as the exchange rate went up to 1.7088. After this we got an even better result on Thursday, as we improved still more to 1.7323. The Friday dip affected things here too, knocking us back to 1.7264, but it wasn’t enough to cause any undue problems. Instead we ended up gaining a total of more than four and a half cents, making this the best result of the whole week.
Notable events in the world of currency
New Zealand dollar increases against Aussie dollar
It was a good week for the Kiwi dollar as it climbed from 0.8069 to 0.8161 against the Aussie dollar.
Another climb against the Canadian dollar
There was good news elsewhere too, as the Kiwi dollar climbed from 0.7217 to 0.7346 against the Canadian dollar.
… but there was a drop against the Swiss franc
It wasn’t all good news for the Kiwi dollar, as it fell from 0.7844 to 0.7767 against the Swiss currency through the second half of the week.
The Budget may have brought tough news for the UK, but it certainly helped the pound stand tall amongst other world currencies last week, as we have seen. This story from the FT website – tells you more.
So there we have it for another week. And it was certainly a good end to the week as far as the British pound was concerned. Let’s hope it will continue when we come back for our next look at the markets very soon.
It’s good to finally see the pound doing a little better this week. We might only be talking about a couple of odd days but there is no doubt we can take heart from the better results we achieved here.
I would like to see these continue, and having read some of the news stories about the Budget in the past few days it will be interesting to see whether the pound can indeed improve still more. I’m not sure whether that will happen but with this particular coalition government in place it could well happen. They seem to have done enough to warrant the support and belief of those people who matter in the currency markets. I suppose that at least is something to note.
Wow I can’t believe we’ve had such a good run for this report! It certainly makes a change because I was getting quite down on constantly reading mediocre reports about the pound. Maybe now we can actually get some good exchange rates!
I for one would love to head out to the US but I’d prefer to go when I can get a lot more for my money. At the moment it is quite depressing that the exchange rates are so bad. They might be a little better than they were but I still do wonder whether they could increase or not. I have a feeling they might stay stable for a while, but a two dollar pound is a long way off yet.
Well I agree with the above two people in that it is good to see the pound doing well for a change. But they should get a grip and stop celebrating quite so much because it will change again and be on the way down before too long. Don’t forget we have this massive national debt to sort out. No matter how much is achieved as a result of the Budget I don’t think the pound is strong enough to keep up this performance for that long.
The only exception might be against the Euro. That currency is in bad trouble and I can’t see it lasting. Certainly not for the long term anyway – I think that is asking too much of it personally.
I seem to have a more detached and less passionate view of things than CDixon does. I suspect this is because I travel frequently between countries and I am more than familiar with the ebb and flow of the currency markets. Indeed I tend to see it up close because I can handle those currencies in a very real way on a regular basis.
Obviously I am affected by exchange rates because if the pound slumps it means I don’t get such a good amount of foreign cash in return. But when it is good I benefit. In the end I think it all evens out and gives me a fairly good balance. I don’t tend to worry too much about the exchange rates most of the time.