Welcome to a week that will prove to be a bad one for the pound. There is no sense in keeping that secret, but how bad would it turn out to be? Let’s find out.
An overview of the currency markets for March 4th – March 8th, 2019
How would the British pound fare against the US dollar this week? From its opening position on 1.3233, there was an immediate drop on Monday that took the pound to 1.3182 by the day’s end. The fall was not as pronounced the following day, but there was still one to contend with, taking the pound to 1.3176. It soon became clear that this would not be a week where celebrations were taking place for the pound. Indeed, each day brought a new low with it, and the pound ended up dropping to 1.3016 by Friday evening.
Would we see something similar against the euro as well? We are about to find out. Opening the week on 1.1629, this dropped only marginally to 1.1624 by the close of play on Monday. The next few days were more uncertain, with ups and downs seen throughout. Friday brought the lowest rate of the week though, with the British pound stalling on 1.1581 – still some way down on the opening rate on Monday morning.
Moving on to consider the Hong Kong dollar now, we find the pound opened on 10.386 last week. By the end of day one, this had fallen to 10.346. Once again, it appeared the overall trend was going to take the pound far lower throughout the week. That would appear to be correct, too, as we saw the rate drop lower as the days went on. While we hoped we would see some course correction here, it would not prove to be the case. By Friday night, the pound had stalled on 10.219 – 0.167 lower than it had opened the week with.
Moving over to New Zealand, the British pound opened trading here on 1.9394. We had an idea what would happen here, and indeed the first day saw the pound drop to 1.9329. The next two days were better though, each seeing an improvement that took the pound up to 1.9467 by Wednesday night. Unfortunately, the final two days turned out to be far worse. The pound fell in value on both days – and by some margin too. By Friday night, it had finished trading on 1.9131.
Finally, we should check on any progress made against the Australian dollar. Given the disappointing results thus far, we are not expecting to find anything notable here. Opening on 1.8643, the pound dipped to 1.8592 on Monday. It did then follow the pattern seen against the Kiwi dollar, rising to 1.8727 by Wednesday evening. If the pattern followed through though, it would lead to two losses by the time the week was up. This was indeed what occurred, with a fall to 1.8458 by Friday night.
Notable events in the world of currency
Another loss seen versus the Canadian dollar
There was no respite for the pound last week, as we saw it dip from 1.7569 to 1.7464 versus the Canadian currency.
More of the same occurred against the Swiss franc too
The pound opened trading on 1.3210 last week, before falling to finish on an exchange rate of 1.3121.
Even the Icelandic krona did well against the pound
Sometimes, you can see the pound doing better against some currencies over others. This was not the case last week, when the British currency dipped from 158.082 to 157.900 against the Icelandic krona.
So, we have a disappointing yet very clear pattern of losses occurring for the British pound last week. This was the first full week of March and it did not bode well for the month overall. With uncertainty ahead, we must perhaps expect more of the same to occur over the next week or two as well. We shall be watching closely to see if the British pound can buck the trend set this week and do better next time around.