After a reasonable week on the currency markets last time around, it’s now time to see whether the British pound did any better on the currency converter last week. Will we get the good results we are looking for however?
An overview of the currency markets for February 21st – February 25th 2011
Our first stop is the US dollar, where we had a good week last time, ending on 1.6232. We dipped a tiny amount on the first day, but then we fell back to 1.6157 the day after. Did this mean we were in for a bad week? We did recover slightly on the 23rd but we soon lost our advantage and ended the week on 1.6090 as a result.
Could we do any better against the Euro though? Here we had a starting rate of 1.1911 to go with, and it soon became clear that this was not going to be a great week. On day one we fell to 1.1869, and just 24 hours later the figure had changed to 1.1822. By the time the week was up the pound was on the ropes and the Euro had pushed us back to a rate of 1.1691.
Now it is the turn of the Hong Kong dollar. Last time we finished up on 12.636, but two days into the new week saw the same dips we had already seen with the other currencies. Here they saw us fall to 12.587, and although we did better on the subsequent two days we still finished up on 12.539 by the end of the week.
Another good result from last time around saw the pound end on 2.1311 against the New Zealand dollar. The week ahead would be a good one for the pound on the currency markets. Here we climbed to a solid 2.1744 by the 23rd, but we still had two days remaining to trade with before the week was over. Unfortunately we lost our momentum over those two days and ended up with a lower result of 2.1439 by the end. Still better than we had started with, but the huge lead had gone.
Finally we have the Australian dollar to contend with. We managed to grab a tiny advantage here the week before, ending on 1.6055 as a result. Again the high point came on the 23rd, as we pushed ourselves up to an appreciable 1.6185. But just as with the Kiwi dollar we couldn’t hang onto that lead. Instead we slid back to close out the week on 1.5873, so here we couldn’t manage to enjoy a solid end.
Notable events in the world of currency
US dollar dips slightly against the Aussie dollar
The US dollar did well as the week progressed, from its starting point of 0.9891. But eventually the week ended with it closing on 0.9865.
Slight dip for the US dollar against the Euro as well
Here we saw the US dollar with a starting rate of 0.7338, but that starting rate fell to 0.7266 over the course of the week.
The Canadian dollar has a rough time against the Euro
There were choppy waters to navigate here, as the Canadian dollar went from 0.7463 to 0.7414 over the week as a whole. The middle of the week saw a much lower exchange rate however, so it did recover marginally.
The Euro is never too far from the headlines, no matter what is going on in the world. This has never been truer than recently, when so many doom and gloom headlines seem to be ruling the roost.
This story from the FT.com website – can be read if you sign up free at the site. It focuses on potential dangers that could be lurking around for the Euro, and it may prove useful to read.
So there we have it for another week. Will next week prove stronger for the pound?