It’s always nice to have some good news for our readers, and if you’re following the progress of the British pound, you’ll be pleased to hear it did well this time.
An overview of the currency markets for August 22nd – August 26th 2016
The pound started this particular week on 1.3088 against the US dollar. But where would things go from here? Things certainly improved early on, especially as the currency finished Monday evening on 1.3109. The following day was encouraging too, as the pound rose further to 1.3185. With another piece of good news yet to come, the following day took the pound to 1.3236. Would this turn out to be a very good week all round? Well, the next day saw a drop back to 1.3193, but fortunately Friday ended in better shape as the pound closed things out on 1.3212.
So with an encouraging week against the US dollar, where would the British pound go against the euro? It began trading on 1.1555 before improving over the first three days of the week, much as it had against the American dollar. This meant it closed out Wednesday evening on 1.1746. We then saw the exact same pattern we had against the dollar, with a drop on Thursday and a recovery on Friday. We managed to attain an impressive rise overall across the week, from 1.1555 to 1.1702 all told.
Now came the question of whether we could make it three out of three against the Hong Kong dollar as well. The opening rate was 10.148 here, and we did indeed follow the same pattern over the first three days. We improved on each day, rising to 10.263 by Wednesday evening. We did also have that one-day drop followed by an improvement to finish the week, which meant the closing rate this week was 10.246 in this part of the world.
Yet even when the above three currencies tally with each other in terms of the way the British pound performs against them, the same is not always said of the New Zealand dollar and the Australian dollar. In this case, the pound opened on 1.8033 against the Kiwi dollar, before rising to 1.8094 on Monday and dropping back to 1.8003 on Tuesday. The rest of the week was up and down too, and by the time Friday turned up, the pound had managed to settle on 1.8043. So we did have a slight rise here as well, albeit after a different pattern of trading.
Finally, it’s across to Australia where the pound began on 1.7191 before enjoying three excellent days to start the new week. In this instance, it was following the pattern it had put in against other currencies, rising to 1.7364 by Wednesday night. However, the final two days of the week turned out to be downhill all the way. The closing rate was still higher than we’d had in place earlier in the week though, on 1.7286, so it was a full house of good results.
Notable events in the world of currency
Another good showing against the Canadian dollar
This week was good here too for the British pound, as it improved from 1.6810 to 1.7022 throughout the week.
More of the same good news against the Swiss franc
Here too the news went our way, as the pound began the week on 1.2540 and closed it out on 1.2794.
Even the Icelandic krona was no match for the British pound
Yes, the pound did well in other quarters as well last week. It started trading on 152.602 last week against the krona, before rising to close Friday night on 153.752.
As you can see, this was nothing short of a very good week, with encouraging improvements wherever we looked. It is probably one of the best weeks the British pound has had since the Brexit vote saw it tumble in value. Where will it go now, though, as the year continues to progress steadily towards its final few months? Only time will tell us the answer to that one.