We are once again starting with a brand new month, and after the performance the pound put in to finish off February we can only hope that March looks more promising.
At the close of play last Friday we saw the pound had lost ground over the last three days of the week against every single one of the currencies we traditionally look at. It was down by over two cents against the US dollar, so we will be looking at the currency converter closely in just a moment to see whether that loss got better or worse at the start of this week.
Elsewhere the pound also lost over a cent and a half against the Euro. And things were no better against the Hong Kong dollar, where 0.173 was the amount lost over those last three days of February.
We also managed to drop just over a cent against the New Zealand dollar and half a cent against the Australian dollar, so there was no good news here to focus on at all.
The question now is whether we can find any shred of good news to kick this new week – and new month – off with, or whether there is worse in store. Let’s see what happened now, and what kind of position we are currently in.
An overview of the currency markets for March 1st – March 2nd 2010
So here we are with a look at how the British pound did against the US dollar at the start of this week. The starting exchange rate here was 1.5201, and what happened by the time we reached Monday evening was nothing short of dreadful.
By this point the exchange rate had dropped below $1.50 to land on a sorry 1.4916 by the end of the day. If there was any consolation at all it was that Tuesday’s closing rate bucked up a little to 1.4947, but this still left us on a worrying rate as we headed into the middle of the week.
So were we in for a similar tale against the Euro? The closing rate here last week was 1.1201, having lost out on a cent and a half. And Monday was no better against the Euro than it had been against the US dollar, as we finished the day on a lowly 1.1029. Once again we saw a small climb the following day to 1.1033, but it wasn’t enough to give us any real confidence in what would happen next.
We ended the week with 11.799 last time against the Hong Kong dollar, and if the two results we have seen so far are anything to go by, we were in for another fall here too. And that was exactly what we got – with a lower rate of 11.581 on Monday evening.
By now we were almost hoping for the Tuesday rise we had seen elsewhere and we did indeed find it here too. So we were left on an exchange rate of 11.604 on Tuesday evening.
Let’s move on to the New Zealand dollar now to see what would happen there. Our last rate from last week was 2.1898, and we were in for a big drop during the hours of trading which happened on Monday. By the end of the day we were down by four and a half cents to 2.1442 – a huge drop and a huge shock. Tuesday stalled and pushed up slightly to 2.1450, but it wasn’t enough to make us feel confident of better news in the future.
Finally we’ve got Australia to take a look at, and while we finished on 1.7071 here last Friday we had a disastrous start to the week here as well. By Monday evening the rate had nosedived to 1.6659, and it got worse still the very next day. This was when it fell back to 1.6543, making us realise this was going to be a poor week for the pound.
So let’s just hope the second half of this week is noticeably better than the first half.
Notable events in the world of currency
New Zealand dollar starts poorly against the Aussie dollar
The New Zealand dollar fell from 0.7769 on Monday night to 0.7712 on Tuesday night, losing around half a cent in the process. Will it buck up over the remainder of the week or is this a sign of bad times for the New Zealand dollar as well?
Canadian dollar puts in a great performance against the Swiss franc
The Canadian dollar was worth 1.0264 against the Swiss franc on Monday evening, but it put in an amazing effort on Tuesday to close the day on a much healthier 1.0426 instead.
Euro takes the upper hand against the US dollar
It’s still early days but first blood this week went to the Euro, as it climbed to 1.3548 against the dollar on Tuesday evening from 1.3525 on Monday night.
The big news at the moment is the fall of the British pound, and just one of the many news stories concerning this event was released on Reuters on Monday, to kick off the month with some food for thought. You can read about the story here.
So there we are for another report. And there is no doubt that the British pound has its back against the wall at the moment, as it struggles to maintain any kind of strength against the other major world currencies.
Perhaps the thought of the forthcoming election is playing havoc with the currency’s chances of strengthening its position. There are rumours we could be in for a hung parliament, and if that happens it won’t do anything to bolster our currency at all.
The main thing to remember here is to keep an eye on what is happening in the news as well as in the currency markets. This will give us an idea of what we can expect in the coming weeks. We will tell you here first.