As we said goodbye to 2017, the pound ended the year on 1.3189 against the Swiss franc. It was hard to predict what may lie ahead, but we now have several months’ worth of data to go on. Perhaps this will help us in finding some intriguing patterns in how the two currencies have shaped up this year.
The pound dropped almost the moment the markets reopened for the start of 2018, falling to 1.3173 in the process. However, it soon picked up again and closed the first week – albeit a shorter one – on 1.3227. There were greater heights to scale over the course of January though. Especially notable was the high of 1.3411 on the 23rd. However, from there onwards there were troubles ahead, and the month ended on 1.3230 for the pound.
Much of the beginning of February saw a further series of falls for the British currency, as the Swiss franc began to fight back. By the 14th, it was stalled on 1.2936, although it perked up to 1.3021 the following day. Much of the rest of the month saw ups and downs close to these two figures, although we did rather better on the 26th, recording a closing rate of 1.3129 against the Swiss currency on that day.
While early March saw further falls for the pound, the middle of the month looked rather more promising. By the 14th, we managed to score a rate of 1.3205 – far higher than we had experienced just one month earlier, as we saw above. However, while that was encouraging, the month would end in far better shape thanks to the power of the pound proving stronger than that of the franc. This saw the pound end on 1.3463 – a good outcome for the month. It also seemed a long way from the 1.3189 we had started the year on.
Early April continued in the same positive fashion, reaching 1.3801 on the markets by the end of the 17th of the month. Even though there were marginal losses to be seen following this, the overall swing was still on the up. By the 30th, as the month got ready to tip into May, we were standing at an exchange rate of 1.3606 against the Swiss franc.
However, while the overall pattern could be said to see the pound on the up, things were about to change. There would still be good days to come, to be sure, but there were far more losses in store as well. At the time of writing, the British pound stood at 1.3093 on 26th June – a far cry from some of the impressive figures seen above, and lower than the opening rate for 2018 as well.
So, will the second half of the year see things on the rise again, or is there another story to be told?