Welcome back to another currency report, although this week we have to admit we don’t have too much good news to bring you. The results achieved by the British pound were good to begin with, but they were soon followed by some disappointing ones as you will see.
An overview of the currency markets for March 4th – March 8th 2013
Back we go to the currency markets to see how the British pound fared last week. To begin with let’s see whether it could do any good against the US dollar, where it started with a rate of 1.5034. The first two days went well and saw the pound rise to a healthier 1.5159. However it then started dropping in value until eventually it ended the week on a poor 1.5028. This was slightly lower than it had started the week on.
Over in Europe the pound started the week on a rate of 1.1564 against the Euro. This rose to 1.1630 over those first two days, showing the same rate of growth the pound had enjoyed against the US dollar. However the same pattern then came to fruition, where the pound started dropping in value. Here too it ended the week worse off than it had started it, with a rate of 1.1481 on the cards.
Our third stop is with the Hong Kong dollar and by now we were looking for a similar pattern to the week – a good start followed by a downhill slide throughout the second half of the week. Unfortunately this was exactly what we got, with the opening rate of 11.660 rising to 11.758 by Tuesday evening. This was then followed by a slide back to 11.656 by Friday night, although the damage here was less than we had seen elsewhere.
New Zealand is the fourth stop of our usual five, and here the pattern was a little different. The starting rate for the pound was 1.8224 and we did achieve the week long high on Tuesday, the same as in the other regions, when we climbed to 1.8333. However we then saw the pound fall back to 1.8081 on the 6th, before regaining some strength to close out the week on 1.8127 on Friday night.
We often see the Australian dollar following a similar pattern to the one exhibited by the New Zealand dollar against the British pound. This week would be fairly similar, as the pound started on 1.4734 before achieving a week long high of 1.4839 on Monday night. Here the peak came sooner as you can see, before tumbling away throughout the rest of the week to finish on 1.4624.
Notable events in the world of currency
The pound loses a little ground against the Canadian dollar
Here the pound dropped from 1.5539 to 1.5464 over the week as a whole.
A slight increase was achieved against the Swiss franc
The opening rate of 1.4160 was pushed a little higher to 1.4184 by the time the week was done against the Swiss franc.
The pound drops back slightly against the Chinese yuan
Here too the results were disappointing, as the pound slid back from 9.356 to 9.347.
So it was not a brilliant week for the pound, although you could have been forgiven for feeling confident in the early days when it showed promise against many different currencies. Hopefully we can soon rectify the slide in value we saw in the last few days of the week, although with so many challenges in place at the moment it will be a tough assignment to do just that.
Whatever may happen in the future, we shall be here reporting on the latest movements in the currency markets, making it possible to see whether the pound has indeed got the strength to fight back. Let’s hope for better news in the coming days and weeks, as the British pound goes up against the major world currencies.