Yes it is time once again to see how last week on the currency markets finally panned out. We had two good results on the currency converter during the first two days of the week and three not so good ones. We did however manage to keep at bay any large losses; the only losses we had were small ones.
We were down by a small margin against the US dollar, leaving us on 1.5131 on Tuesday evening. We enjoyed a slight increase of 0.0017 against the Euro though, which left us with an exchange rate of 1.1026 at the end of the second day of the week.
The British pound was also down marginally against the Hong Kong dollar, leaving us on 11.742 as a result. We were also lower against the New Zealand dollar by 0.0078, which was slightly more worrying as a three quarters of a cent drop in two days. Finally we were up against the Aussie dollar though, so it was an up and down start all in all.
The question now was whether we could improve on this throughout the rest of the week. Could the pound build on these results and finish the week in a better position? Or would we end up with a lower rate to close on? Let’s see what happened.
An overview of the currency markets for March 17th – March 19th 2010
Let’s begin as we always do by taking a look at how the pound fared against the US dollar as the week came to an end. We last left it on a rate of 1.5131, having come back out of the minus $1.50 territory it was in before.
Wednesday turned out to be a very good day indeed as the pound fought hard to gain a closing rate of 1.5349. Our position slipped a little the following day though, as the pound finished up on 1.5279 instead. With one day to go we were eager to try and make a big difference here. Could we do it?
Unfortunately we lost even more ground on Friday night as we finished for the week on a rate of 1.5145. But this was at least marginally better – by 0.0014 – than the previous closing rate had been on Tuesday night.
Moving onto the Euro now, we last left this currency on 1.1026. Could the pound do better and grab more value for money here this time?
Well we saw another instant improvement here on Wednesday, as the pound finished on 1.1158 at the close of play. Thursday bucked the trend we had seen in America though as the pound crept further up to 1.1185 instead. Finally we did drop back a little on Friday and finished up on 1.1179 as we went into the weekend. At least we had managed to succeed in gaining a little over those three days. In fact we had added on around one and a half Euro cents. Not a bad result this time around.
Let’s see how we fared against the Hong Kong dollar now. Last time we finished on 11.742, having suffered a slight drop during the first couple of days. There was a great start in store here as we climbed up to 11.913 the following day. Then there was a redressing of the balance the next day, dropping us back to 11.857. Where would we end up as the week came to a close though?
The answer lay in wait for us the next day, as we finished on 11.752. This meant we had ended up gaining a total of 0.01 Hong Kong dollars over the course of those three days.
Next up is the New Zealand dollar, which the pound had an exchange rate of 2.1476 against last time around. We could have done with a gradually increasing exchange rate here as well, but unfortunately that wasn’t what we got. Instead we slipped back to 2.1452 on Wednesday evening, and then further down to a lowly 2.1326 the next day.
The week ended on a dismal note as we sank even lower to 2.1291. This gave us a three day loss of nearly two cents all in all.
Finally we have the Aussie dollar to look at. Last time we left it on 1.6545. What could we achieve this time?
We had a good start on Wednesday by finishing on 1.6623. But that was as good as it would get. The following day finished lower on 1.6578 and the end of the week was nigh as the pound dropped to 1.6463. So we had lost out on nearly a whole cent here.
Better luck next week perhaps?
Notable events in the world of currency
British pound rises against the Swiss franc
Elsewhere the pound had a better week. It rose from 1.6006 on Tuesday to 1.6069 on Friday, although it did even better on the days in between.
The pound slips against the Canadian dollar
From a rate of 1.5375 on Tuesday night the pound had dropped to 1.5277 on Friday. But once again it did far better on Wednesday and Thursday before falling again.
A rise for the pound against the Icelandic currency
The pound was on 190.028 on Tuesday night, before managing to climb up to 191.946 on Friday evening.
There was an interesting story about the Euro on the Reuters website last week. It illustrated how the Euro is actually having a worse time than the pound at the moment. This particular currency pairing will be fascinating to keep an eye on as time goes on.
So there we have it for another week. Will the pound strengthen further as time goes on, or will it slip back into older and weaker ways again? It is hard to tell which way it will go, but we will certainly be watching to report on the latest developments when they happen.
We will be back in a couple of days to tell you how this new week kicked off. We will see you then.