Last week was a real mix of results for the British pound. Two of those results were a big disappointment. So could this week bring us anything better to focus on or would there be more of the same?
An overview of the currency markets for October 12th – October 16th 2015
We were looking for a positive start this week as the British pound squared up to the US dollar. We got it as well, as the pound began trading on 1.5339 and edged forward to 1.5366 by Monday evening. It was a good start but could it continue in the same vein? Actually it couldn’t, as we were down to 1.5205 by Tuesday night. Was this the start of a disappointing series of falls by the pound? As it turned out, the next two days were much better. By the time Thursday night arrived we had managed to push ahead to 1.5464. Even though we dropped back to 1.5443 by Friday night, we still managed to finish off in a better position to the one we had started the week in.
Now the question is whether we could replicate that against the euro. The opening position here was 1.3500 and this went up to 1.3511 by Monday night. We then dropped quite a way on Tuesday to 1.3368, leaving us with quite a task to get back to the starting point, even without going higher than that. As it turned out though, we managed to achieve a really good finish. By the time Friday arrived it was as if the earlier parts of the week were forgotten. The pound finished strongly on 1.3594, nearly a cent up on where it had started from.
We can move on to see whether the Hong Kong dollar would get the better of the pound now, or whether it would finish up lower if the pound could do well here too. The pound started trading on 11.888 before climbing to 11.909 on Monday night. We then saw the same Tuesday dip we’d seen elsewhere, this time taking the pound to 11.784. The rest of the week was more positive though, and while Friday did see another dip, it was a small one. The pound had already done some good work up until then too, so it meant we could finish on 11.968 for the week.
Our fourth stop is with the New Zealand dollar. We opened on 2.2902 here but the first two days didn’t go in our favour. This meant the pound slipped to 2.2692 by Tuesday night. Better news came on Wednesday as the pound rose to 2.2833, but there was a significant drop on Thursday. The pound found itself much lower on 2.2553. Did it have anything in the tank to achieve a better rate to close out the week with? The answer was that it did, but not enough. It finished on 2.2752 on Friday.
Finally we should see whether the pound could do well against the Australian dollar. We opened on 2.0928 here and the first couple of days saw bad news, taking the pound to 2.0835. There was a big leap for the better on Wednesday though as the pound soared to 2.1194. Even though a small drop was seen on Thursday, it didn’t stop the pound finishing in style on 2.1280 this week.
Notable events in the world of currency
Better news against the Canadian dollar
Here too there was encouraging news as the pound went from 1.9843 to 1.9963 this week.
A drop against the Swiss franc
We couldn’t have it all our own way though, as it became clear today. The pound slid from 1.4741 to 1.4694 today.
More good news against the Icelandic krona
Here we managed to achieve a better finish too, as the pound started on 191.678 and edged up to 192.793 by Friday night.
All in all then it was not a bad week at all. We couldn’t get great results everywhere, but really, how often can we do that anyway? We must celebrate where we can.