Welcome back to another report from the currency markets. Will the British pound do well over the course of this particular week?
An overview of the currency markets for May 18th – May 22nd 2015
Here we go then with another fresh week of results on the currency markets. Firstly the British pound began proceedings on a rate of 1.5709 against the US dollar. However the week did not begin well. The pound slid significantly in its standing over the first two days and by Tuesday night it was far lower on 1.5487. Over the next couple of days it did struggle to get back to a reasonable rate again, managing to climb to 1.5682 in the process. However this was not enough to get back to where it had begun the week, and Friday night saw a closing rate of 1.5640 instead.
Our next stop takes in the proceedings against the euro. The pound began trading on Monday morning on 1.3867 and here too Monday at least was a disappointing day. By the end of it the pound was on 1.3755. However the next three days were far better as the pound crept up on a daily basis to reach 1.4086 by Thursday night. Friday saw another drop in fortunes for the pound, but since it ended on 1.4009 this was still far better than the rate we’d opened the week with.
Next up is the Hong Kong dollar, where the pound began the week on 12.176. Here too we didn’t have the most encouraging of starts, as the pound fell over the course of the first two days to finish on 12.006. However the next two days at least were rather better. These resulted in the British pound climbing back to 12.159. Unfortunately though the last day of trading saw another drop for the pound which meant we ended up on a rate of 12.124. Thankfully this was only marginally down on the rate we had started with.
The next stop on our journey is with the New Zealand dollar. Here the British pound began the week on 2.1130 before dropping marginally on day one and falling further to 2.0922 on day two. This left us with some work to do but amazingly enough the pound then soared to 2.1158 on Wednesday and went higher to 2.1466 on Thursday. It fell back again to close out the week but since it finished on 2.1251 on Friday this meant it was still doing okay over the week as a whole.
Would this stance be replicated in Australia though? Here the pound started things off on 1.9635. Again the first couple of days were not ideal as the pound slid in value to 1.9432 by Tuesday night. Would this mean we would lose even more ground across the week? Actually nothing could be further from the truth. Again the pattern of two bad days followed by two good ones came into force, and by Thursday night the pound had bounced back to 1.9878. It lost a little to close on 1.9841 on Friday but this was still a great result over the week as a whole.
Notable events in the world of currency
Good news against the Canadian dollar
This week the pound rose from 1.8910 to 1.9080 against the Canadian currency.
A slightly better result against the Swiss franc too
Here too there was encouraging news as the pound rose from 1.4509 on Monday morning to 1.4593 by Friday evening.
A very good outcome against the Icelandic krona
Here the pound really did get into a good rhythm. On Monday morning it was worth 205.582 and by the time Friday night arrived it was up to 208.017.
So all in all it was a week filled with some drama, with some midweek uncertainty that left us unsure of how things would actually turn out. We have seen far worse weeks though so this week should perhaps be viewed as something of a success overall. Will next week lead us in the same direction? We shall soon see.