It’s time to take another look at the currency markets to see whether the British pound could perform well against all manner of other major currencies during the week. Would we have a good set of results to celebrate or would the end result be something very different indeed?
An overview of the currency markets for July 2nd – July 6th 2012
When the markets opened on Monday morning the pound was worth 1.5604 against the US dollar. Just a few hours later that had improved to 1.5660 and there was better to come – albeit only a bit – after another day, when the rate increased to 1.5664. But this was where the improvements came to a halt and we saw the pound start to struggle. Indeed by the time the week was done with the pound was sitting at a lower rate of 1.5539.
So this pattern of a good start followed by a bad finish was disappointing, but could it be repeated against the Euro too? The opening rate here was 1.2394 and immediately we saw a jump up to 1.2436 by Monday night. Things seemed to be on the up for the pound too, even though there was a slight dip midweek. By the time the week was over the pound was sitting at a healthier rate of 1.2554.
Let’s move over to the Hong Kong dollar now to see whether the pound could do anything there. The starting rate was 12.104 and by the time day one was done with we had improved to 12.147. Unfortunately the best rate of the week was that very rate, as things started to go downhill after that. A steady decline in the exchange rate meant the final rate of the week was a disappointing 12.048.
The opening rate against the New Zealand dollar was 1.9516 and we experienced an immediate drop here to 1.9483. Things perked up again the following day though as the pound crept back up to 1.9534. But again things would become no better and the closing rate for the week dropped back to 1.9388 in the end.
Finally we have to look at the performance the pound put in against the Australian dollar. The opening rate was 1.5293 and day one produced a weaker rate. Day two saw a marginal improvement before a bigger drop occurred the following day. It was clear the way things were going here, and finally we got a closing rate for the week that added up to a disappointing 1.5138.
Notable events in the world of currency
A steady slide against the Canadian dollar
Here the pound gradually fell from 1.5953 to 1.5767.
Much better news against the Swiss franc though
Here we were in store for a good result for once. The pound climbed from 1.4910 to 1.5079.
And more good news against the Icelandic krona
If we were looking for a better result from the pound we had only to look here. The pound climbed from 195.763 to 198.810 over the course of the week.
While the pound has had a mixed week the Euro has hit plenty of headlines too. This story from the Bloomberg site is just one example of what has been happening in general.
One wonders whether the pound will improve in coming weeks or whether it will continue to be affected by a raft of different events, such as the recession we are currently going through. Hopefully we can enjoy better results in the near future, but we must be ready for some ups and downs as we continue on this journey. Rest assured we shall be monitoring everything that happens so we can provide you with the latest news on how the British pound is doing – whatever might be happening in the world at large.
I know we shouldn’t always rely on great results every week – that’s just expecting too much. But surely the pound ought to be doing better than this? Maybe I am biased but this is two bad weeks in a row now. What is going on? I would hope things are going to look a bit more promising soon. I have some more currency reports to read!
I noticed this too, but I think sometimes the pound will just have a bad run of things. There is a lot going on at the moment to indicate this.