Welcome to our latest currency report. Will it be a promising one or not? It’s time to find out.
An overview of the currency markets for April 15th – April 19th, 2019
The week got underway with a rate of 1.3073 for the British pound against the US dollar. Things looked promising early on, with a rise to 1.3104 by the end of day one. This didn’t last though, as the pound began to dip over the next two days, falling to 1.3042 by Wednesday night. While the falls were small in comparison to other weeks we’ve seen, they continued throughout most of the week. By Friday, the closing rate for the British pound was 1.2993 – a fall for the week all told.
It was difficult to imagine anything else would occur against the euro. We opened here on 1.1567 before rising to 1.1591 to start the week on what was perhaps a surprising note. However, there was a midweek dip coming and we did not need to wait long to see it. By Wednesday, the exchange rate was down to 1.1544. We did manage to garner a better rate by the time the week was over, but not by much – we stalled on 1.1555 by the time the Easter break began.
We had seen a steady fall against the US dollar already, so perhaps something similar was in store against the Hong Kong dollar as well. Indeed, we began on 10.253 and edged up to 10.273 on day one… only to drop to 10.235 the day after. The following two days were not impressive either, so we were bracing ourselves for a tough week ahead. By the time it was over, the British pound had stalled on 10.192 for the week – quite a drop from that opening rate.
Another dollar currency is next on our list, but this one can produce some surprising results. The pound went up against the New Zealand dollar with an opening rate of 1.9322 before improving to 1.9375 by the end of that first day. A fall to 1.9290 on Tuesday might have convinced us the falls were about to start in earnest as they had elsewhere. However, nothing could be further from what happened. By the time the week was done, the British pound had managed to claim a closing rate that was rather more impressive – 1.9443 to be exact.
Could we replicate that good performance against the Australian dollar as well, we wondered? We opened that head-to-head on 1.8216, again having a good opening day by rising to 1.8269. Then came the dip to 1.8192, at which point we thought things might improve. Sadly, that was not to be the case here, leaving our performance against the New Zealand dollar as the standout result of the week. We ended up slipping to 1.8164 in this part of the world, so all told it was not the best of weeks.
Notable events in the world of currency
A slight dip against the Canadian dollar
Slight falls we can cope with, and that is what we got here last week. The pound opened on 1.7425 before falling to 1.7402 by the close of play.
More impressive news against the Swiss franc
Looking for good results seemed to be a challenge last week. This time, we managed to improve from 1.3106 to 1.3177 against the Swiss currency.
Better news where the Icelandic krona was concerned
The news could get better here and there, and it did last week for the pound. It opened trading on 156.357 and then progressed to close on 156.655 by the end of the week.
It was difficult to ascertain where the good news was going to come from last week. However, we can see there were some good results to celebrate. Hopefully, we can build on that to deliver better news next week as well, once the Easter weekend is over. We can but hope for the best.