Can we really be coming to the end of November with December hot on its heels already? Yes we can – the year has certainly progressed quickly on the currency markets, and with just a few short weeks left until the New Year gets underway it is time to see what we could expect from the remainder of this year.
We had a mixed week last time around, with three bad results and two good ones to show for ourselves. The British pound lost out on two cents against the US dollar and virtually a whole Euro against the European single currency. When we managed to lose a total of 0.159 against the Hong Kong dollar as well, it was time to wonder how much damage the week would do as a whole.
It will certainly be a good idea to keep an eye on what is happening for the New Zealand dollar and Australian dollar this week, since those were the only currencies we managed to do well against last time. With nearly two cents up against the New Zealand dollar and one and a half against the Aussie dollar, at least here we could show some mettle and grab a good result.
But of course the currency converter produces very different results each and every time we look at it. Will this week be another struggle for the pound, or will we have some better news to report all round? It is always very hard to tell when we’ve had a mixed week the week before, so let’s move ahead right now to see whether we have good or bad news to share with you this week.
If you are ready to find out the answers, let’s get started and see where the currency conversions will lead us this time, shall we?
An overview of the currency markets for November 23rd – November 29th 2009
So our first stop as per usual is America and the US dollar. It certainly got the better of the British pound last time, leaving us a little over two cents lower than we had started the week, on 1.6476. Could we improve on that and grab back some of those two cents?
Let’s see what happened. We know that a good start to the week does not necessarily mean that it will end in the same way, but it certainly gives you a head start. And that was exactly what we would get this time around, as we managed to pull ourselves up to 1.6617 by the time Monday was over and done with.
So was this a good omen for the rest of the week? Or would we lose this early lead and end up rather lower down the scale?
Tuesday provided something of a clue when we ended up losing some of the lead we had built up. By the end of the day we were back down to 1.6575, and while this was essentially quite a small difference from the day before, it was still enough to get us thinking.
And you could certainly say the same of the midweek point as well. Wednesday caused something of a surprise when the final exchange rate for the day came in rather higher at 1.6701. This meant we had added on a cent and a quarter in just twenty four hours, so the week was looking rather good at this point.
But the up and down nature of the exchange rate results we have seen so far has understandably caused us some concern. Where will things go from here? Will we continue to go up or will we now start heading in the opposite direction?
Unfortunately for us the answer was the latter of the two possible results. By the time Thursday had come to a close the exchange rate had dropped a little further to 1.6543, pointing to a very real chance that Wednesday would turn out to be the peak of the week. And this did in fact turn out to be true. We had done well during the week so far, but Friday pointed to the fact that we could not keep up the high exchange rate that we had achieved on Wednesday.
And in fact the week ended on a lower rate of 1.6409 as everyone headed home on Friday night. That meant we had lost out on a total of 0.0134 in just twenty four hours. But even though that was the case, the week as a whole wasn’t perhaps as bad as we might have thought initially. The jump up to that higher rate on Wednesday actually saved us somewhat, since the total loss for the week was just 0.0067. So you see it could have been a lot worse than it was, had it not been for that huge jump up midweek.
So that was how we did against the US dollar. But how did the pound fare against the Euro?
We lost virtually a cent against the Euro last time, leaving us sitting on 1.1121 as the week came to a close. There was a very slight movement in favour of the Euro by the time Monday was out, leaving us slightly lower on 1.1101 at the day’s end. Did this point to another bad week for the pound, or was there a lot more in store yet?
Tuesday certainly didn’t give us a lot to be positive about as the pound slipped back a little further to 1.1072. It seemed as if the Euro had the upper hand at the moment at least, making us wonder if this was going to be the Euro’s week rather than ours.
There was no difference at all on Wednesday which came as a relief of sorts – at least we hadn’t lost any more ground since the previous day. But with two days still to go anything could and probably would happen, and we would simply have to hope that the British pound could withstand whatever the Euro did next.
But once again Thursday showed us that the impetus was firmly with the Euro and not the pound. We just couldn’t seem to increase our standing against the single European currency at all, and by the time the fourth day of the week was over we were standing at 1.0976. Was there anything we could do to make sure the exchange rate went up instead of down for a change?
It already seemed too much to hope that the pound could achieve anything of note this week. But we did at least gain a little foothold on Friday, as we managed to up things ever so slightly to finish on 1.0999. It was obvious though that the Euro had beaten us into submission this time around, with a total loss of 0.0122 to cope with.
This wasn’t shaping up to be a good week for the pound. Last time we had three losses and two gains, and so far we have two losses to contend with. Could we improve things ever so slightly to finish with the same results this time around?
Let’s move on to Hong Kong now to see whether we have anything to celebrate there. We finished on 12.769 last time with a loss of 0.159 over the week. And at least we started the week in the right way this time, with an exchange rate of 12.878 on Monday evening. That was a promising start, so let’s see what happened from that point on.
Perhaps given the results we have already seen for this week, the drop which occurred on Tuesday didn’t come as much of a surprise. We finished on 12.845 at the end of the day, losing out on 0.033 from the day before.
But we were back up again the next day and claiming an exchange rate of 12.943 at the close of play. Did this mean we could actually achieve a better rate at the end of the week than we had had at the start of it?
If we were getting confident it certainly didn’t last long. Thursday saw a lower rate once again at the end of the day, as we finished on 12.821. So were we going to follow the pattern laid down by the US dollar and the Euro and finish off with a poor end to the week?
The answer, unfortunately, was yes. The final exchange rate on Friday was 12.718, meaning we had lost out on 0.051 during the week as a whole. At least we weren’t going to lose out on too much for the whole week – we have the feeling it could have been worse.
So now we move on to the two currencies that we did actually do well against last time, starting with the New Zealand dollar. Could we at least do well again with these two this week? We needed to, because so far out of the three results we have
seen three bad outcomes for the pound.
We were starting from 2.2832 this time, but even here we had a bad start to the week. By the time Monday was over we were on 2.2687, having lost nearly a cent and a half so far. It didn’t seem as if we were destined to be able to do anything right this week.
But this initial performance looked as if it could have been just a bad start. By the time Tuesday had played itself out the pound was back to 2.2744 – still not as good as we had started the week, but better because we had improved on the previous day. And the midweek point got better still, leaving us on 2.2867 as the markets closed and everyone headed home.
But we still had two days to go through, and as we know anything can happen in the space of forty eight hours on the currency markets. In this case anything DID happen – but it was in a good way. By Thursday night we had a perhaps unbelievable exchange rate of 2.3037 on our side, and things got better still by the time the week was out.
Friday night finished on a very good note with an even better exchange rate against the New Zealand dollar of 2.3195. That meant in total we had added on an impressive 0.0363 since the week had started, providing a welcome relief to all the other bad results we had managed to bag so far.
But could we do something similar in Australia? We had the week before when the Kiwi and Aussie dollars were the only currencies we actually performed well against. So far this time the pattern was looking very similar, so let’s see if it actually happened in reality.
Our starting point here was 1.8127, and once again we got a bad start to the week as we dived down to 1.7998 to close out Monday evening. So did this mean it wouldn’t follow the line we’d tracked in New Zealand? Or was this just a bad start?
Tuesday looked to be virtually the same as we finished on 1.7998 again, dropping back just slightly a couple of decimal points further down. And Wednesday unfortunately followed the same pattern as the pound fell back to 1.7978 by the time the day was out.
Things started looking up on Thursday as we finished on 1.8041, but was it too late to actually achieve anything of note in Australia? Friday got a bit better still but once again we were perhaps a little too late to really make an impact here. The final rate for the week was measured at 1.8157 on Friday night, meaning we had managed to up things slightly during the week as a whole, but not by much. The increase was a marginal 0.003 in total.
So it wasn’t the best week for the pound, and not as impressive as the week before either.
Notable events in the world of currency
The Euro picks up against the Canadian dollar
The Euro managed to push up from 1.5846 on Monday night to claim a rate of 1.5992 against the Canadian dollar on Friday, so it was a good week all in all for the single currency.
US dollar also does well against Canada
It clearly wasn’t the best week for the Canadian dollar, as the US dollar climbed from 1.0586 on Monday night to 1.0719 at the end of the week.
Aussie dollar dips against Swiss franc
The Aussie dollar dipped down from a healthy 0.9319 on Monday evening to 0.9125 on Friday night last week. Better luck next time for the Aussie dollar perhaps.
Last week closed on worrying news coming out of Dubai, as investments there looked to be built on shakier ground than anyone had previously realised. The impact this had on the British pound was indicated in this report from the Reuters website.
So that’s it for another week, and it wasn’t the best week for us to report on. Perhaps next week will come bearing better news, as we progress through December on our way to a brand new year once again. We’ll see you then.