It hardly seems like a week has gone by already, but here we are again to see whether the British pound has been able to stand up for itself in the worldwide currency markets. How will it have performed on the currency converter this week?
An overview of the currency markets for September 5th – September 9th 2011
At the end of last week the pound was worth 1.6219 against the US dollar. It very soon started slipping back, falling to 1.6142 by the end of Monday night. By the close of play on the 7th it was at 1.5986, and even though it recovered slightly on the 8th it fell back once again to close out the week on its lowest exchange rate of 1.5956. Let’s hope for better next time as far as the pound against the dollar is concerned.
So did this mean a bad result for the pound versus the Euro as well? Last time we left it on 1.1377, but it immediately showed some strength by climbing to 1.1427 by Monday evening. A midweek drop to 1.1389 seemed to indicate it could be in for the same fate it had suffered against the US dollar, but thankfully it was not to be. Instead the pound climbed to 1.1548 against the Euro by the end of the week.
Let’s move on now and see whether the pound could improve on the 12.630 it was left on against the Hong Kong dollar last time. Unfortunately the answer here became pretty clear in the negative sense very soon after things got underway. There was a slight recovery at the last minute, but the pound ended the week worse off on 12.437 instead.
So what of the situation against the New Zealand dollar? The last figure we had was 1.9043, and we immediately showed our strength by climbing to 1.9289. But was this a momentary show of strength or would it last for longer? The answer was thankfully in the positive, because even though we eventually lost out on a weekly high point of 1.9350 we still finished on a respectable 1.9245.
Finally there is the Australian dollar to consider. The pound finished on 1.5164 last week, but would it be able to capitalise on some success this time around? Early signs were promising as the pound climbed to 1.5279, but this was to be the best result all week. It then started falling to a disappointing Friday night closing rate of 1.5157, so not the best result we had ever seen there.
Notable events in the world of currency
Slight drop for the pound against the Canadian dollar
A slight drop occurred here, seeing the pound fall from 1.5865 to 1.5842 over the course of the week.
But a soaring result against the Swiss franc
This was an amazing result, as the pound left the measly rate of 1.2665 behind and finished the week on an incredible 1.4048.
A seesaw week against the Icelandic krona
There was a mix of results here, but eventually we climbed from 185.266 to 186.133 over the course of the week.
The week began with a report on the state of the pound against the US dollar from Reuters. Other reports were to come and indeed the exchange rate fell even more throughout the week. It’s clear that the pound was having some major issues last week as it tried to remain competitive against all manner of different challenges.
So how will the pound progress from here on in? We saw some impressive results last week – most notably against the Swiss franc – but will it be able to sustain them? It also dipped against other currencies, giving us pause for thought with regard to how strong the pound really is.
We shall follow the next chapter of this story next week as always.
I suspect I should be more eager to deal in certain currencies at the moment, but thanks to the volatility in the markets I am loathe to do so. I am sure there are bargains to be had but I don’t feel as if I am able to spot them. How do other traders feel at the moment? I am only involved casually in the Forex markets, but I wonder how full time traders are getting on?