Welcome to the latest view of the currency markets. Let’s go straight into this week’s report to see how the pound performed.
An overview of the currency markets for April 28th – May 2nd 2014
Here we go again with another look at how the markets stacked up against the British pound last week. As things got underway the pound stood at 1.6808 against the US dollar but it soon improved after day one when it ended Monday on 1.6846. There would be a week ahead of ups and downs though as it turned out, so it would be a little too early to celebrate just yet. Indeed the following day we were back down to 1.6815. By the time the week was over we did however achieve the best result of all, finishing on 1.6876 and definitely saving the best for last.
Next up is the head to head against the Euro. The opening rate here was 1.2152 and we barely moved on day one, although what movement there was went in our favour, sending the exchange rate to 1.2153. There was better news the next day as we improved to 1.2162 before we had a couple of rougher days to negotiate. Finally though we ended well, as we had against the US dollar, taking us to 1.2174 as a result.
Our next stop is with the Hong Kong dollar, where the pound started on 13.032. Here too we had a good start with a rate of 13.060 by Monday night. However we also saw some ups and downs throughout the week, as the pound struggled to maintain any improvements it made. The good news however was once again saved until last. The Hong Kong dollar wasn’t able to stop the British pound from seizing a closing rate of 13.083 to finish the week.
Let’s move on to see whether we would get a similar pattern against the New Zealand dollar now. We opened things on 1.9573 and this immediately leapt up to 1.9713 on Monday evening. However we then dropped back over the next couple of days, leading to a closing rate of 1.9668 on Wednesday. It seemed as though we would not peak at the end of the week as we had against the other currencies, although anything could yet happen. Unfortunately our prediction proved to be correct, as the pound finished on 1.9510 on Friday night.
Would we have a similar result against the Australian dollar then, as this so often mirrors the events seen against the New Zealand dollar? Our opening rate was 1.8087 and this improved to 1.8150 on Monday evening, much the same as we had seen against the Kiwi dollar. We did then drop back to 1.8141 the next day, but we were back up to 1.8161 after that. In fact this was a much better week all in all, as the British pound finished up on 1.8226 the following day.
Notable events in the world of currency
A slight drop against the Canadian dollar
There was not to be a complete whitewash of good results this week. The pound dropped a little against the Canadian dollar, going from 1.8519 to 1.8504 as a result.
Slightly better news against the Swiss franc
Here there was better news to be had, as the pound started on 1.4819 and moved up to 1.4839 at the end of the week.
A drop against the Icelandic krona
Here though we were back to disappointing news again. The pound started on 188.799 and lost ground, ending the week on 188.661 as a result.
All in all it was a very good week for the pound, only being let down by a few odd results here and there. Of course we cannot expect every week to be a good one, but hopefully we can build on this and provide another set of healthy results next week as well. We shall see.