Welcome back once again to our look at the currency markets and, more specifically, the position of the British pound. Do we have good or bad results to report on this week though?
An overview of the currency markets for November 2nd – November 6th 2015
Here we go then with yet another week’s worth of results for you. The British pound started on 1.5339 against the US dollar this week, and got off to a good start too, rising to 1.5468 by that evening. The next couple of days saw some ups and downs, which meant by Wednesday night the pound was on 1.5414. Unfortunately the performance couldn’t last, and by Friday night the pound had slid further to close on a disappointing 1.5138 – a significant loss.
Over in Europe the pound began trading on 1.3923 against the euro. The first three days were encouraging, producing increases each time until a closing rate of 1.4096 was achieved on Wednesday. But again the worst news was saved for later on in the week. As such the pound ended up on 1.3934 by Friday night. At least this was marginally ahead of the opening rate, so the overall picture was more encouraging than the day-to-day one.
Our next stop is as usual with the Hong Kong dollar, where the pound began trading this week on 11.888. The first day was encouraging, taking us to 11.988, but then we had a similar picture of ups and downs to the one we’d seen elsewhere. While we reached 11.946 on Wednesday this would turn out to be the second-highest point we would reach. From then on it was downhill all the way. The pound ended up closing on 11.734 by Friday night, which equated to a disappointing outcome all in all.
Our next stop is the New Zealand dollar. The pound opened on 2.2791 here before enjoying three really good days to start the week. This led to a closing rate of 2.3237 by Wednesday night. That meant the pound had added on 0.0446 over the course of three days. It was perhaps to be expected then that some losses were on the way. By Friday night – just 48 hours later – the pound was down to 2.2869. This was still much better than Monday’s opener had been however, so it was all good in the end.
Over in Australia the pound began trading on 2.1643 and climbed to 2.1672 by Monday evening. Was this the beginning of another good week, much as we had seen against the New Zealand dollar? Actually – and unfortunately – the answer was not good. Instead of doing better throughout the remainder of the week, the pound headed in the other direction. In fact by the time the markets closed on Friday night, the pound had dipped to 2.1185. That equated to a loss of over four and a half cents.
Notable events in the world of currency
Another drop for the British pound
The pound dropped considerably against the Canadian dollar this week. From a starting position of 2.0210 it ended up finishing on a woeful 1.9984.
A slight drop against the Swiss franc
Here the news was bad too, but not as bad as it had been against the Canadian dollar. The pound dropped from 1.5176 to 1.5090 this week against the Swiss franc.
Another drop was in store against the Icelandic krona as well
Here too the result was not a good one. The pound opened proceedings on 196.977 and ended up on 196.506 by Friday night.
So there we have it – rather a disappointing week for the British pound. Perhaps we can hope for better in the near future, but you never know how things are going to pan out overall. One thing you can be certain of, though, is that we will be back next week with the answers. We’ll see whether the pound did manage to have a better week after the drama of this one.