It is impossible to predict how one week will progress for any currency. Last week was a positive one for the British pound, so could we expect more of the same this time around?
An overview of the currency markets for March 18th – March 22nd, 2019
The week got underway with the pound on 1.3292 against the US dollar. This soon dropped to 1.3247 on day one, so it was not the most auspicious of starts. Indeed, although we rose to 1.3266 the following day, we did not manage to attain that same rate for the next few days. Instead, we dipped into 1.31 territory, making us wonder whether this would be a tougher week overall. We did manage to attain a closing rate of 1.3211 by Friday night, but this was still down on Monday’s opener.
Next up, we can see whether the pound would experience something similar against the euro. Opening the week here on 1.1735, we then dipped to 1.1685 on the first day. We could attain little improvement in the next 24 hours either, rising only slightly to 1.1687. It looked as though this was going to be a disappointing week. We then fell into 1.15 territory for the next couple of days, before finally reaching 1.1670 by Friday night. At least the losses were not as bad as they could have been here.
Our third stop is with the Hong Kong dollar, as always, where we opened proceedings on 10.433 this week. We saw a dip here too, this time to 10.399 by the end of Monday’s trading period. Over the middle period of the week, each day saw a drop, taking us lower until we reached 10.290 on Thursday evening. While Friday saw a better closing rate of 10.367, this was still some way down on the opening rate for that week.
Moving to the New Zealand dollar now, the pound started the week on 1.9418 before dipping again, this time to 1.9338 on Monday night. Here, we saw very little evidence that we would regain that loss over the course of the week. In fact, things went in the opposite direction. We managed to dip as low as 1.9057 by Wednesday evening. While the next two days proved to be better, we ended up falling quite significantly over the course of the week, with Friday’s closing rate of 1.9207 stalling those losses somewhat.
A similar picture then played out against the Australian dollar. The pound got things underway on 1.8770 before it fell to 1.8658 on Monday night. Once again, the lowest rates of the week occurred a few days later. By Thursday night, the currency was sitting on 1.8442, which was some way down on the rate we’d begun with on Monday morning. But again, the damage was limited by a better performance on Friday, when the pound managed to eke out a closing rate of 1.8654.
Notable events in the world of currency
A marginal gain against the Canadian dollar
We managed to make slight progress here, although the starting rate of 1.7735 fell to 1.7526 at its lowest before finally pushing back to close out the week on 1.7764.
A significant drop occurred against the Swiss franc
Here, the picture was not as rosy. Instead, the pound dipped from 1.3316 at the opening part of the week to 1.3120 by the time it was over.
Better news came against the Icelandic krona
At least this week was not a wipe out. Instead, there was some good news to be found here and there, as is evident in this result. The pound started the week on 155.689 before finally rising to achieve 157.937 by Friday night. It had dipped to 153.702 midweek though.
So, another reasonable week here, although it was by no means as positive as the performance that we saw last week. With lots of ups and downs evident this time around, it leaves us wondering where the British pound will end up next week.