Welcome back to another report, this time focusing on the second short week resulting from the Easter break. Would the British pound be in good form and be able to successfully conquer its enemies, bringing in a good set of results in the process?
An overview of the currency markets for April 1st – April 5th 2013
Here we are then with a four day week to delve into. When the pound came back to the markets after the long weekend, it was worth 1.5143 against the US dollar. By Tuesday evening it had improved slightly to 1.5161. However, this turned out to be the best result we would get… at least until Friday, when the pound put in an excellent finish, going up to 1.5244 in the process.
Next let’s see whether the pound could achieve a good result against the Euro. The opening rate here was 1.1825 but this soon dipped to 1.1807 on day one. Perhaps we would be able to bounce back up like the pound did against the US dollar. On the other hand perhaps not, as it seemed the British pound didn’t have anything to fight back against the Euro with this week. By Friday night the pound closed on 1.1777 instead.
Our third stop is with the Hong Kong dollar. The opening rate for the pound here was 11.757 but again the early news was not good. The pound soon fell to 11.737 before falling to 11.736 by Wednesday evening. The good news did follow eventually though, as the pound managed to push back and achieve a high rate of 11.838 by Friday night.
Let’s move on and see whether the pound could get a good result against the New Zealand dollar. The opening rate here was 1.8103 before we saw what was becoming the familiar midweek dip. The low point turned out to be 1.7913 on Wednesday, but at least this meant the pound could achieve more by Friday night. Indeed, it managed to go up to 1.8146 by the end of the week.
Finally we have the situation against the Australian dollar to check into. The pound had a struggle to do well at the beginning of the week, falling from a starting rate of 1.4555 to 1.4423. However this was when things started to improve, as the pound fought back and closed out the week on 1.4633.
All in all it was a reasonably good week for the British pound, even though it only had four days trading to work with.
Notable events in the world of currency
Another improvement against the Canadian dollar
Here too things got better. The pound started on 1.5398 but managed to increase that rate to 1.5468.
But things got worse against the Swiss franc
We may have hoped for better news here, but we were to be disappointed. Instead of going up in value the pound dropped from 1.4421 to 1.4318 over the course of four days.
And another fall took place against the Icelandic krona
Here too there was bad news. By the time trading was done for the week, the pound had fallen from 188.523 to 184.294.
So it was a mixed set of results all in all. The main currencies seemed to have a tough time against the pound, but all was not well in all areas of the world. Here and there the pound seemed to struggle against some currencies, so it did not achieve good results everywhere.
We are back to normal next week though with a full five day week now the Easter break is over. Perhaps we can hope for better results over a longer period, although of course anything could happen. One additional day is not the only thing that will improve a performance of any currency, so we shall have to wait and see what transpires.
Either way, we shall provide more information as and when we have it, so be sure to come back next week.