Here we are with our next currency report for you. Would this be a good week or something else entirely?
An overview of the currency markets for May 14th – May 18th, 2018
With an opening rate of 1.3561 against the US dollar this week, we hoped the British pound would be able to improve on that. It did on the first day, as the exchange rate edged ahead to 1.3585. However, the next two days took the pound in the opposite direction. By the time Wednesday evening rolled around, the pound had slipped to 1.3480 – some way off its opening rate for the week. Although it hit 1.3514 on Thursday evening, another fall was still in store. That meant the pound dipped to close on 1.3490 on Friday night.
Our second stop is with the euro – always uncertain territory, especially when Brexit is still being finalised. The pound began the week on 1.1363 before dipping to 1.1322, but although that was far from a great start, it was plain sailing from then on. Yes, four good days were to follow, and by Friday evening the pound had soared to reach an appreciable 1.1451 on the currency markets.
A similar picture to the one we’d seen against the US dollar unfolded against the Hong Kong dollar too. The beginning was good, rising from 10.645 to 10.664, before two disappointing days followed quickly behind. Wednesday’s closing figure of 10.581 climbed to 10.608 the day after, but once that was over there was no stopping the final fall of the week occurring. The pound stalled on 10.590 this week against the Hong Kong dollar, representing a loss overall.
We made an encouraging start against the New Zealand dollar this week, rising from the opening rate of 1.9443 to 1.9592 on Tuesday. While the next day saw a marginal fall to 1.9578, there was another rise to come on the penultimate day of the week. That took the pound to 1.9605 over the Kiwi dollar. We may have dropped again on Friday, this time to 1.9523, but this was still better than we had seen over the past few days with some other currencies.
So, would the pattern against the Australian dollar follow that seen against the Kiwi dollar, or was there another story in store? This would turn out to be a week of two halves, where the pound began well before finishing in rather different order. We opened on 1.7955 before experiencing two excellent days. This took us to 1.8039 by the time Tuesday’s trading was over. However, from then on it was nothing but downhill. We ended up finishing the week after three disappointing days to close on 1.7947 – lower than we’d started on, albeit only by a small amount.
Notable events in the world of currency
A tiny drop against the Canadian dollar
The drop here was so small as to be virtually unnoticeable, as the pound fell from 1.7269 to 1.7261 this week.
A more noticeable fall against the Swiss franc
Here, the pound also came off second best, but with a more disappointing result. It dropped from 1.3560 to 1.3481 this week.
Finally, some good news against the Icelandic krona
We had to look hard for good news, but we found it here. The pound rose from 139.090 to 141.311 against the Icelandic currency.
It’s hard to believe we are already steadily progressing through May, but while the pound has done well on some occasions, this week was not one of the most notable successes in its collection in 2018. There were some good elements in there, but it was largely a forgettable week.
Perhaps we will still more encouraging news overall next week, but it remains to be seen whether that hope comes true. We expect the uncertainty between the pound and the euro remains, and that could continue for some time ahead. We are less certain of what will happen against the other currencies though, so stay tuned for more information as we get it.