So here we are again with another look at the currency markets. How would the pound fare this week? Let’s get the answers now.
An overview of the currency markets for August 18th – August 22nd 2014
So how would the British pound perform against the US dollar this week? Well, it began on 1.6690 and did well on Monday, rising to 1.6724 in the process. However it turned out to be the best day of the week and from then on it gradually dipped down to reach a closing rate of 1.6577 on Friday evening. Not a very good start as it turned out.
Perhaps we could achieve something more encouraging against the Euro this time, although with the performance we’d seen above this may not be the case. The pound opened on 1.2466 before it edged up a little to 1.2496. It then dropped back to 1.2458, so things were looking down again. As it turned out though the pound managed to put in a good enough performance the next day to warrant a better outcome by the time Friday arrived. It closed out the week on 1.2495 which meant the pound was slightly up on Monday’s opening rate.
Next up we have the pound against the Hong Kong dollar. Our home currency began on 12.935 before moving up to 12.962 on Monday evening. But once again it turned out to be the best move of the week, because most of the subsequent days saw decreases in the exchange rate. By Friday night the British pound was settling on 12.847, with a loss over the course of the week of 0.088.
We tend to see more extreme swings back and forth against the New Zealand dollar, and this week looked as though we’d see something very similar. The pound opened on 1.9640 before rising to 1.9702. We then dropped back to 1.9668 on Tuesday before going back up to 1.9842 the next day. Even though we lost some ground by the time Friday evening arrived, we still managed to finish on 1.9701, so this ranked as an improvement for the week.
Finally let’s stop in Australia to see how the pound did there. We opened on 1.7904 and had a good opening day, rising to 1.7945 in the process. Aside from a reasonable day on Wednesday though the rest of the week was rather disappointing. Friday night ended up with a closing rate of 1.7803 for the pound, so we were down on our opening rate and disappointed at not seeing anything better.
Notable events in the world of currency
A slight drop against the Canadian dollar
Well at least not all the falls were big ones this week. The pound started on 1.8192 against the Canadian dollar and fell slightly to close things out on 1.8164.
A slight move in the opposite direction against the Swiss franc
Here at least we had a good result, even if only a marginal one. The pound began the week on 1.5101 against the Swiss franc and ended it on 1.5119.
Elsewhere a drop against the Icelandic krona
Here the pound managed to stall its progress by falling from 193.126 to 192.984 over the course of the week.
So it was a mediocre week really for the British pound. There were a few good results to be had but we had to search for them and there was nothing of note that was particularly good in any way. We rarely get an excellent performance across the board from the British pound but we’ve had a few weeks now where we have struggled to find any really good news to impart to those who read these reports. Perhaps next week will be the start of a better outcome for the pound, but we shall have to wait and see. With results like these it becomes more problematic to simply hope and wait, when we are seeing disappointing outcomes almost every time of late.