Here we are with another set of results for you to digest. You might be surprised at how some of these results contrasted with each other.
An overview of the currency markets for October 21st– October 25th 2013
So how would this week pan out for the British pound? Will we have a raft of good results to report, the complete opposite or something in the middle? We’ll start as we always do with the exchange rates against the US dollar. The pound started the week on 1.6191 but this dropped to 1.6145 by the end of the first day. It wasn’t the best start but where would it go from here? The answer was down as the following day dipped further to 1.6132. Fortunately this was rock bottom for the week and the pound turned the corner to rise from then on. By the time the next three days were over, the pound had managed to get back to somewhere near the opening rate on Monday, reaching 1.6172 in the process.
The opening rate against the Euro was 1.1832 and this too dropped on day one, falling to 1.1813. As it turned out this would be the last time this week that the pound had an exchange rate around the 1.18 mark. It dropped back to 1.1798 on Tuesday evening and couldn’t rise about 1.18 for the remainder of the week. In fact it dropped lower, closing out Friday evening on a disappointing 1.1738.
As the week began against the Hong Kong dollar, the pound held onto a rate of 12.553. Here too though the rates dropped, and the pound closed Monday night on 12.517. The week’s low point came the following day as the pound fell to 12.507, and then it started the long and painful climb back. It didn’t quite regain the starting exchange rate but it did make it back up to 12.539.
Against the New Zealand dollar the pound had an opening rate of 1.9079. Here too we saw slight drops over the first couple of days, resulting in the pound finishing Tuesday evening on 1.9072. Fortunately we had some good news to come here, as the pound rose to 1.9300 the following day. It wouldn’t drop back either, and this would provide us with the first piece of good news of the week. The closing rate on Friday evening was a healthy 1.9487.
So could the British pound do the same against the Australian dollar and give us two good results out of five? The opening rate was 1.6769 on Monday, before the predictable drop to 1.6685 came on Tuesday evening. But then things got better and the pound took control. By Friday evening we saw a closing rate for the week of 1.6867 – giving us the second good result we wanted.
Notable events in the world of currency
More good news against the Canadian dollar
The pound managed to rise from 1.6670 to 1.6879 here, giving us another good result to celebrate.
But it didn’t do as well against the Swiss franc
We couldn’t achieve the results we wanted against all currencies though. We saw this as the pound dropped from 1.4604 to 1.4494 against the Swiss franc.
Another fall against the Icelandic krona
The pound fell to 1.4494 here, from a starting rate of 1.4604 – not the best performance we’ve seen by a long shot.
It was a mixed bag of results to be sure, but at least the pound did have some good news to celebrate. This can be seen on several weeks so it isn’t by any means a rarity, but it does show the fickle nature of the currency markets. It is rare that one currency will do extremely well across the board: such is the nature of the markets.
We’ll be back with another update next week, revealing more about the state of the pound and whether it has had a good or bad time.