This week’s currency report may contain a few surprises for you, especially if you’ve been reading our reports every week for the past few months. However, we can assure you the surprises are all good ones, as you’re about to find out.
An overview of the currency markets for April 22nd – April 26th 2013
As the week began, the British pound stood at 1.5349 against the US dollar. The first day did not go well for us though, and by the time it was over it had dropped to 1.5224. Fortunately the worst was over very early on, and by the time Tuesday arrived the pound was in much better shape. This turned out to be a trend that would continue throughout the week, as the pound got the better of the dollar on a daily basis. By Friday night it had achieved a healthier rate of 1.5475, so not a bad week at all there.
The question now was whether we could achieve something just as good against the Euro. Our starting rate here was 1.1704 and this dropped to 1.1678 on Monday evening. However, the pound then followed a very similar pattern to the one it had followed against the US dollar. The only difference was it managed to achieve far more by the time the week was over. It had added on 0.02 by Friday night, stopping on 1.1904 as a result.
Next it’s time to check on its progress against the Hong Kong dollar. The opening rate was 11.917 and once again we had a one day drop to start the week. Monday evening saw the pound fall to 11.820. We could rely on the same pattern here as well though, so we celebrated a third good result here by the time trading was over for another week. The pound closed on Friday night on a delightful 12.014.
You never quite know what to expect from the New Zealand dollar or the Australian dollar, so it will be interesting to see whether the pound could improve overall here as well. In fact by the time the week was over, the chart relating to the exchange rate between the pound and the Kiwi dollar looked a little like a ‘W’. From a starting point of 1.8125 we fell to 1.8055 by Monday night, only to improve again on Tuesday. Wednesday saw another fall, and this pattern continued until Friday, when we managed to close the week on 1.8186.
Finally, could we make it five excellent results out of five? Only the Australian dollar stood in the way of that result, and from a starting rate of 1.4854 on Monday morning we had the familiar Monday dip, taking us down to 1.4826 as a result. However it was then that the good results started to kick in once again, leading to a very good week for the pound. Finally we managed to settle on 1.5060 on Friday evening, so we did indeed get the five out of five result we wanted.
Notable events in the world of currency
A slight improvement against the Canadian dollar
Here the pound managed to improve by a smaller amount, rising from 1.5733 to 1.5780 during the week.
Another good result against the Swiss franc
The pound managed to perform exceptionally well here, rising from 1.4250 and hitting a top rate of 1.4610 on Friday evening.
Another piece of great news against the Chinese currency
The pound had what it needed to battle against the yuan too, as it rose from 9.4827 on Monday morning to reach 9.5403 on Friday night.
This turned out to be one of the best weeks we have seen in a long time. The question is whether or not the pound will be able to maintain such a good performance over the course of another week. We shall be here to find out – but will the news be good or bad? Make sure you come back next time to find out the answer.