The weeks seem to be going by faster than ever at the moment, and here we are again with a look at how things have progressed in the currency markets since our last report.
Last time we saw that things were very bad all in all for the British pound. The exchange rates were certainly going against us wholesale, and we managed to lose ground against every one of the five major currencies we look at each week. We couldn’t find anything to enable us to get ahead against the US dollar, the Euro, the Hong Kong dollar, the New Zealand or the Australian dollars. As a result the whole week was a washout the last time we looked.
This doesn’t bode well for this week of course, although things can change very quickly in the world of the currency exchange markets. A lowly figure on your currency converter one moment can change into something much better the next, so we will hope for the best as we start to look at what occurred.
The main thing here of course is that we see some better results this time around. If we can at least stall the bad results so we don’t lose any more ground, it would at least be something. If that doesn’t happen then we should hope that the losses aren’t too bad after the last performance. Ideally we shall have some good results to report on for a change, as this would encourage us to look ahead with positive thoughts!
But still, whatever happened happened. So let’s see what did occur as we check out all the important results from the last day in August, stretching into the beginning of September.
Are you ready?
An overview of the currency markets for August 31st – September 6th 2009
So here we go then with a first look at what happened between the British pound and the US dollar. Last week we reported on a loss of two and a half cents against the US dollar, so now we are starting firmly on the back foot once more, with an exchange rate to start with of 1.6352.
There was but one day in August left to go, which fell on the Monday. And unfortunately we didn’t finish it in style. Instead the pound went the other way and we finished off on 1.6193 by the close of play for the month. That meant we had already lost out on a cent and a half in just a single day. This did not bode well for the rest of the week, and it meant we were now looking at trying to regain a loss before we could even hope to get near replacing last week’s deficit.
Tuesday did at least see an improvement from Monday’s position though. By the time the markets closed the pound was back on 1.6238. A small improvement, but better than another loss, that’s for sure.
The midweek point saw another improvement although this went down from the scale we had seen the previous day. Instead of seeing a big jump up we saw a small one, which left us on 1.6249 by the close of play. There were now just two days to go to finish off the week, and how would the pound perform in the time we had left?
Well luckily for us Thursday was a much better day all round. We managed to successfully bag an exchange rate of 1.6388 then, which meant we had added on more than a cent overnight. This was certainly something to be celebrated. And this actually took us slightly higher than the finishing point we had been on the previous week. So could we turn this into a successful week after all, especially given the loss we had experienced on that first all important day?
Let’s find out. The final exchange rate for the week was actually 1.6355 – slightly down on the previous day. But it was still very slightly up on the previous week, albeit only by 0.0003. It was however still a better result than the previous week, so we shall take that small increase as a success – even if it was tiny!
So let’s move over to Europe now and see whether the pound could achieve a better result against the Euro. It needed to, after dropping a total of 0.0167 the previous week. That had left us on 1.1384, so could we improve on that now?
The first closing rate of the week on Monday night gave us a similar picture to what we’d seen against the US dollar. We finished here on 1.1346, slightly down on the figure we’d started with against the Euro. But could we replicate the results of the rest of the week too, and move steadily upwards from there?
Let’s find out. Tuesday actually saw a lower figure than that, albeit not by much. We actually managed to close on 1.1344 for the day, so the difference was thankfully very small. Could we now turn this around and make for a much better result the following day?
In fact it seemed like we could. A good day of trading meant that we finished on 1.1427 on Wednesday evening at the close of play, making us wonder whether the worst of the week was now over. Could we now build on that increased figure and hope to do even better for the remaining two days of the week?
There was a much smaller difference in place on Thursday, but once again it did go in our favour. We managed to grab a slightly better rate of 1.1432 by the end of the day, so the momentum for the week was clearly in our favour. What could we do on the one day that was left to us?
As it happened, we could certainly improve on that as well. We ended up with a final rate for the week of 1.1467. Not a huge improvement from the previous day, but it was enough for us to gain the advantage. And in actual fact it meant that we had succeeded in improving on our standing since the previous week. In total we had added on nearly a whole Euro cent since that poor showing. That didn’t replace the total losses from last week, but it went a long way towards replacing a lot of them, which was the main thing. Hopefully we will be able to build on that better result in the weeks to come as well – although we will have to wait and see if that actually does happen.
Our final figure against the Hong Kong dollar last time was 12.674, after a loss of 0.156 over the week as a whole. That was disappointing, but given the poor performance of the pound over the week it could have been a lot worse.
Now it’s time to see if the pound could add another good result to the two we have seen already. This wasn’t going to be a week of hugely successful results, but we could at least add to the moderate successes we have seen so far.
But once again Monday didn’t start well, and it didn’t bode well for the rest of the week either. We finished up on 12.551 then, but then we turned our thoughts to what had happened against the US dollar and the Euro. Could we turn things around after another poor start?
It appears that we could. By the close of play on Tuesday we had managed to bag an exchange rate of 12.585 – rather better than the day before. Could we build on this still more?
Wednesday gave us more to be positive about, as the pound took control and managed to push the exchange rate against the Hong Kong dollar to 12.595. That left just two days to go, but we were still lower than the finishing exchange rate we had been left with last time.
Thursday saw the kind of figure we had been waiting for though. That was when we finished on 12.702 – equating to a huge jump up of 0.107 in a single day. Could we hope to see an even better rate to round off the week with, or would we lose the ground we had made up?
As it turned out, Friday’s closing figure dropped to 12.675. That was a shame, as it only gave us a small increase for the week as a whole against the Hong Kong dollar. That was 0.001 in total, but at least we could add it to the two other good results we had seen so far.
Moving on to New Zealand now, le
t’s see how we did there after last time’s poor showing of a loss of nearly five cents. That left us on 2.3802, so we were looking to make that rather higher this time. But did we do it?
Monday saw a loss once again, sliding us down to 2.3796 by the close of play. And there was another smaller loss on day two as well, leaving us on 2.3769. This wasn’t looking good for the week as a whole, although we could sometimes see better results rather suddenly against the New Zealand dollar, and Wednesday proved us right in this respect.
We ended on 2.4086 on that day, before losing a small amount and sliding back to 2.4036 the day after. And with just one day to go for the week, we were now wondering if we could hang on to the jump up we had got so far.
Well we did lose a bit of ground, but we did manage to keep hold of the good results we had snagged in the previous days. We finished on 2.3911 for the week, which meant that we had managed to at least add on just over a cent for the week as a whole.
So there we have four out of four good results so far, although none of them represented a huge jump up. They were all small, but small is better than nothing!
Let’s see how the Australian dollar performed against the pound now, as we see whether we could make it five out of five for good results this time. We lost some five cents last time against the Aussie dollar, leaving us on an exchange rate of 1.9347.
We did manage to improve that slightly on day one, leaving us on 1.9387 at the close of play. We saw another small jump up the following day, as we finished on 1.9394. It got better still on Wednesday, as we managed to push the Aussie dollar to an exchange rate of 1.9554.
But unfortunately we lost some ground on Thursday and slid right back to 1.9477 again. Our closing rate for the week was lower still on 1.9397, which meant we had added on a mere 0.005 over the week as a whole.
But this was still an improvement, and it made it five out of five as we had hoped for.
Notable events in the world of currency
Canada gets the better of the UK currency
We didn’t do well everywhere last week though, and Canada certainly got the better of us overall. At the close of Monday’s trading we were on 1.7919, but that had slipped back to 1.7868 by Friday night.
US has similar result against Canada
The Canadian dollar obviously had a good week last week, as it managed to beat back the opposition of the US dollar as well.
The US dollar was nearly a cent and a half lower on Friday than it had been on Monday night.
US drops against Chinese currency
Perhaps last week would be better off forgotten by the US currency. It dropped marginally by 0.0006 between Monday night and Friday night against the Chinese currency.
Zimbabwe has often been in the news and described as a ‘battered country’. That is one of the reasons why this news story from the BBC – makes such interesting reading. Would you feel good about propping up this country given the bad publicity it has had in recent times?
Well that’s it for this week, with a good run for the pound in trying to erase the bad results of the previous week. We have made good headway against each of these currencies, so let’s hope that we can do even better next time. We’ll see you then.
I almost missed the link to that story about Zimbabwe at the end of the report. This country is not just battered – its people are struggling too. They are the real story here. I’m not sure I’d want to lend money to the country though. It seems a little bizarre that the IMF has lent them millions of dollars when Zimbabwe already owes it money, so why lend it more? How is that going to help matters? What if the country decides it can’t or won’t pay that back either? It’s a bit strange if you ask me – I’m glad I don’t have to make these kinds of decisions!
I kind of agree with the above poster up to a point, but you have to think of all the people who live in Zimbabwe rather than the state the country is in. We only have the people in charge to blame for that, and we all know who the main man is in that situation. It’s a pity we can’t help the people without going through the government; maybe this is the only way it can happen. But God forbid they misuse that money, because they wouldn’t be getting any more afterwards. At least I hope they wouldn’t! We’ll see what happens I suppose.
I think the situation in Zimbabwe is shocking. It’s hard to know exactly what goes on, but from what I have read I wouldn’t want to live in that situation on a daily basis.
I understand what CDixon said above though; I’d love to go to my bank (whom I owe money to) and ask for another huge loan on top! I wonder what their reaction would be? Not the same as the IMF obviously, which seems eager to lend money to a country it is already waiting for cash back from.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.