Welcome back to our latest review of how the currency markets were looking for the British pound. This would be far from our most successful week, so let’s see what happened.
An overview of the currency markets for October 22nd – October 26th, 2018
As we began this fresh week, the British pound stood at 1.3031 against the American dollar. While we hoped we’d get a good start, we got the exact opposite. It fell to 1.2998 by Monday night instead. It did recover to 1.3027 the next day, but from then on, the US dollar took control and the pound lost some ground by Friday. That was when it stopped the week on 1.2793 – some way from where it had begun.
Would we experience something similar against the euro as well? The opening rate here for the pound was 1.1361, and we can confirm the pattern throughout those five days was identical to the one seen against the US dollar. A drop to 1.1309 was seen on day one, before a rise took it back to 1.1350 by day two. From there, it was downhill all the way to the closing rate of 1.1276 by Friday night. Not the most auspicious of journeys for the pound this week.
Unfortunately, it was a journey the pound would go on again with the Hong Kong dollar as well. It started trading on 10.215 before losing ground to finish Monday evening on 10.190. While it rose to 10.214 the next day, we then saw the same slide we’d experienced against the American currency. This meant three days’ worth of drops that saw the British pound finish the week on 10.030.
We’ve seen so far how the pound has followed a clear pattern so far this week. Would that continue with the New Zealand dollar? It was in fact a very different picture. We had an opening rate of 1.9744 to work with here, along with two rises to start the week in good style. This took us to 1.9879 – far stronger than we’d seen elsewhere this week. We did dip to 1.9729 on Wednesday, but the final two days of the week took us back into more positive territory. The pound finished the week on 1.9773 – slightly better than its opener had been.
Finally, let’s see whether the pound was able to replicate that performance against the Australian dollar. The answer was ‘not quite’. The pound began on 1.8251 and had those two good days to start with, rising to 1.8436 by Tuesday night. However, we then experienced two poor days that reduced the pound’s value to 1.8179 by Thursday. Fortunately, a rise to 1.8202 meant we stalled the losses for the whole week, reducing them by as much as possible.
Notable events in the world of currency
Another drop against the Canadian dollar
Here, the pound began trading on 1.6981 and had two good days out of five. Unfortunately, it was not enough to prevent a drop to 1.6820 over the week.
Another fall, this time against the Swiss franc
Here too there was disappointment for the pound. From a starting rate of 1.2975, it dropped over four out of the five days, resulting in a closing rate of 1.2818.
Better news against the Icelandic krona though
Sometimes, you need to look further afield to find some good news. That was the case this week, as the pound began on 152.806 before climbing to reach 154.600 by Friday evening.
It’s clear we needed to look around with care to find the best results this week. They appeared to be few and far between, with little of note to celebrate. Perhaps the continued uncertainty and looming Brexit date are having a bigger influence than some may believe. The trend of uncertainty is no doubt set to continue, as we get closer to Christmas and 2019.
We’ll assess the markets and the latest results again next week, so make sure you don’t miss our next report.