Welcome back to our latest look at the currency markets. This time we will be looking at the last three days of last week, which in fact will only cover two days, because of the start of the Easter break. The pound clearly had a lot to do if it was going to finish the week in good form, seeing as it only had a couple of days left to do it in.
Last time the pound got a good start to the week as it managed to get good results against four out of the five currencies it went up against. Only Australia let the side down and even then the loss was a small one, as the pound dropped 0.0013 by Tuesday evening.
As far as the other four currencies were concerned the pound had done well. It gained a very impressive 0.0262 against the US dollar and nearly a whole cent against the Euro. It also had another good gain against the Hong Kong dollar, as it managed to add on a strong 0.207. The gain against the New Zealand dollar was smaller, but it still added up to around a cent.
So how would this shortened week end up? Would the British pound be able to hold these results in check and manage to have a successful week? Or were there worse results in store we didn’t yet know about?
We are about to find out the answers to those questions as we take a look at what happened towards the end of last week.
An overview of the currency markets for March 31st – April 2nd 2010
Let’s start with the US dollar as always, which we left on Tuesday night with an exchange rate of 1.5092 by the British pound. Wednesday was looking just as good – if not considerably better in fact – as the pound managed to bring things up to 1.5148. But could the pound do better still the following day?
There was great news for us as the answer was a definite yes – the final exchange rate before we went into the long Easter weekend was 1.5220. This meant we had added on a total of 0.0128 over those last two days. Could we do the same against all the other currencies as well though?
Let’s move on to the Euro next to see whether we could do well there at least. Last time we left the pound on 1.1194 against the Euro, so at least we were over the 1.10 mark. Could we push further up and away from it this time as well?
Well we did get another good start as we managed to climb up to 1.1238 on Wednesday night. So we did dare to think positively as we realised we had one day to go and one hope of getting another good result before then.
And that is exactly what we managed to do. By the time the first day in April had gone by in the currency markets, we were looking at an exchange rate of 1.1301 on the currency converter. This was great news and certainly no April Fool’s joke this time around – the result was definitely genuine. It also gave us an increase of 0.0107 over the two day period.
So let’s move on to the Hong Kong dollar to see what we could do there. Last time we were left on 11.718 after an increase of 0.207 over the initial two days. Could we do more to close out the week?
Well once again the upwards trend almost became predictable because the closing figure on Wednesday was 11.761. And just one day later we achieved an even better rate of 11.821. So we managed to add a further 0.103 to our earlier achievement of the week.
Our next stop is New Zealand and the Kiwi dollar, where the pound last left it on 2.1185. And we did even better here in this week where the pound seemed virtually unstoppable. By Wednesday evening the pound had fairly soared up to 2.1380, and it did even better the following day as well. All in all it managed to close out the week on an incredible 2.1618. This meant we had added on over four cents in just two days.
Finally let’s move on to the only currency the pound could not get a good result against in the first two days of the week. The closing rate here on Tuesday was 1.6399, so anything better than that will be a good thing. Fortunately here we were going to have a better second half of the week than the first half, as we achieved a rate of 1.6566 on Wednesday night and 1.6596 on Thursday. This meant we had gained nearly two cents in two days.
So it was a great end to a shortened week for the British pound.
Notable events in the world of currency
Canadian dollar jumps up against Aussie dollar
From a rate of 1.0669 on Tuesday evening, the Canadian dollar jumped up to 1.0780 on Thursday.
US dollar also loses out to the Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar also managed to climb from 0.9818 on Tuesday to 0.9886 on Thursday against the American currency.
Indian currency also suffers against Canadian dollar
It was three out of three for the Canadian dollar by Thursday night as it climbed from 44.270 to 44.295 against the Indian currency.
The news regarding the imminent General Election on May 6th – confirmed just as this report was being put together – has led to different effects being felt with sterling. This report from the Reuters website – points out what has happened to the pound since the Conservatives were said to have a majority. This is a better result than the possible hung Parliament we may end up with.
So there we are for another week. Next time we will be looking at another shortened start to the week as the pound gets going again on Tuesday morning, after the Easter break. We’ll see you again soon.