How would the currency markets treat the British pound this week, we wonder? The answers are right here as we delve into them for the first time.
An overview of the currency markets for October 14th– October 18th 2013
Let’s see how the British pound performed against the US dollar as the new week got underway. The currency opened on 1.5978 and this crept up slightly to close the day on 1.5989, so it wasn’t a bad start. Unfortunately Tuesday wasn’t as good, as the pound fell to 1.5942 by the end of that day. Wednesday was better though – this time the pound rose to 1.6031 so we were now better off than we’d been on Monday morning. There was more good news to come as well, as the pound managed to boost its performance over the final two days of the week. This left us standing at 1.6191 by Friday evening.
Could we achieve the same against the Euro though? The opening rate here was 1.1778 and once again we had a slight increase to 1.1788 by the end of day one. Tuesday was better, leaving the pound on a closing rate of 1.1815. Indeed, things were looking better still the next day. Wednesday evening saw the pound taking control and closing on 1.1821 as a result. The only dip came the next day, when the pound dropped to 1.1798. It did however rise again to finish the week on 1.1832 so that was good news.
Our third stop saw the pound opening on 12.390 against the Hong Kong dollar. A small increase to 12.398 closed out Monday, before the pound fell to 12.362 on Tuesday evening. The good news was that would be the lowest rate of the week, as the pound spent the next three days improving continually until it finished with a flourish on 12.553 by Friday night.
Let’s see now how things progressed against the New Zealand dollar. The opening rate for the pound was 1.9153 and there was bad news to start the week as the pound dropped to 1.9130. This fell further to 1.9046 the following day, before edging up again to 1.9058 on Wednesday. Thursday was the lowest point as the pound dropped to 1.8971, but that meant there was better news in store to close the week. We didn’t improve on the week as a whole but we limited our losses to close on 1.9079.
Finally could we improve against the Australian dollar? The week opened on 1.6864 for the pound, and it improved on this with a rate of 1.6872 on Tuesday. This dropped to 1.6738 the next day though, so it was uncertain how good the week would end up. The answer was not that good – the closing rate on Friday was a disappointing 1.6769.
Notable events in the world of currency
A slight increase against the Canadian dollar
The pound had a reasonably good week here, moving up from 1.6600 to 1.6670.
Another piece of good news against the Swiss franc
Good news here as well – the pound moved up from 1.4504 to a healthier 1.4604.
A drop against the Icelandic krona
Here we proved all was not good, as the pound fell from 195.113 to 194.545.
With lots of results to digest here, it was a mixed week in terms of good results. We did achieve small improvements here and there, but we didn’t have anything that was immensely notable. Perhaps we can achieve better results next week, although the outcome remains to be seen. With the potential for things to go either way, this week showed just how competitive the currency markets are. Small gains and losses were the order of the day throughout the week, and it is impossible to see which way things may progress in the future.
We’ll be back next week to reveal another set of results for the British pound. Join us then to find out whether they’ll be good, bad or indifferent.