Welcome back to another currency report, fresh off the press and ready for you to devour. What happened during the shorter festive week of currency trading? The answers are right here.
An overview of the currency markets for December 22nd – December 26th 2014
Here we are then – Christmas week at last. As such we have just three days’ worth of currency exchanges to catch up on, since Thursday and Friday were taken up by Christmas Day and Boxing Day. So let’s see whether the British pound could make it count for the three days it was in action for. Firstly we’ll begin with the exchange rate against the US dollar. The pound began the week on 1.5648 but it soon slid back to end the day on 1.5618. The following day didn’t go too well either, as the pound dropped further to 1.5524. Would we end up dropping back even more before the shortened week came to an end? Fortunately this wasn’t the case: instead the pound rose to 1.5535 before things finished for the festive period.
Now let’s see whether the same pattern would be seen against the euro as well. Here we started on 1.2743 before falling back slightly to close Monday night on 1.2740. We then mirrored the performance we’d put in against the dollar by falling further to 1.2711 on Tuesday evening. Finally the same pattern was completed once again with a small increase – this time to 1.2714 against the euro on Christmas Eve.
Next up is the position of the pound against the Hong Kong dollar. Here too the exact same pattern was seen to exist – two falls on Monday and Tuesday followed by a slight rise on Christmas Eve. The pound opened the week on 12.136 and then fell throughout the next couple of days, ending Tuesday’s period of trading on 12.045. Finally the last day of trading before the festive break saw the British pound rise slightly to finish on 12.058, where it would stay until the following Monday.
The pound opened on 2.0121 on Monday morning against the New Zealand dollar. This improved to 2.0133 by the end of the day, although Tuesday ended up producing a drop in the pound’s fortunes. This meant it closed on 2.0048. We did then improve on the final day of trading for the week though, resulting in the British pound rising to 2.0097 against the Kiwi dollar at that moment.
Finally it is the turn of the Australian dollar to try and put a dent in the pound’s fortunes. The opening rate here was 1.9130, which soon rose to 1.9183 by the day’s end. Could we achieve another two days of this? Actually no, as the pound fell to 1.9101 by Tuesday’s end. We did however pull some of those losses back on Christmas Eve, when the pound finished on 1.9139.
Notable events in the world of currency
A slip against the Canadian dollar
Bad news here, although it was minimal – the pound went from 1.8145 to 1.8008 throughout the course of the shorter week.
Another drop against the Swiss franc
Here too there was bad news, although the losses weren’t huge. The pound began the week on 1.5342 and ended it on 1.5289.
Three out of three disappointments as the Icelandic krona joins in
We were in for some more bad news as the pound went from 197.949 against the Icelandic currency to close on 197.046 on Wednesday evening.
So there we have it for Christmas week. It may be a shorter week than usual but it was not without its dramas. The pound actually did better in some instances than might have been expected, especially given the smaller time frame in which to improve on things. We have another shorter week coming up given the New Year holiday too. With that in mind we shall be back with the results for that period of time very soon. How will 2014 end and the New Year begin?