Welcome back to our latest currency report, which focuses on how last week came to an end regarding the figures on our currency converter. Did the British pound manage to have a good end to the week or did the other major world currencies have other ideas?
Before we take a look at how last week’s exchange rates came to a close on Friday evening, let’s see how they began during those first two days of the week. It started off as a very up and down affair, with three of the currencies not doing enough to beat the pound and two of them just about managing to better it in some way.
The pound lost out on around half a cent against the US dollar, while the Euro saw a small loss as the pound gained 0.0008 there. The pound lost out against the Hong Kong dollar as well though, as it finished off on Tuesday night down by 0.035.
It barely moved against the New Zealand dollar as it crept up by a tiny 0.0001 amount, but the pound did lose some ground against the Aussie dollar by dropping 0.0036. Could we do better at the end of the week and gain a more convincing result though?
Let’s find out now by seeing what went on.
An overview of the currency markets for April 21st – April 23rd 2010
The starting exchange rate for the British pound against the US dollar was 1.5386, so we were hoping to improve on that as the week wore on. By Wednesday night the signs were that we would have a battle on our hands, as we had edged up by a tiny amount to 1.5388.
The picture was little different the following day, when we managed to creep up to 1.5389. We clearly weren’t going to achieve much this week, and indeed we lost some ground to close out the week on 1.5347 on Friday night. This gave us a three day loss of 0.0039.
So would we have a similar struggle against the Euro, or was there another story lying in wait for us? We were starting on an exchange rate of 1.1409 here, and by that evening we were on a better rate of 1.1507. It seemed as if we would follow a more positive pattern this time around.
The next day we did better still and upped our standing to 1.1537, but there was still one more day of trading to go before we could celebrate. We did drop back a little as the week came to a close but it didn’t prevent us from achieving a closing rate of 1.1530 and an increase of 0.0121 since Tuesday night.
So with that good result under our belt let’s move on to see whether we could achieve a good result against the Hong Kong dollar too. Here we would be starting from 11.943, after losing out on 0.035 during the first two days of the week. Would we end better than we had started?
We started off well by moving up to a better rate of 11.946 on Wednesday evening. But the first sign that we could not sustain that would be on the following day, when we dipped a little to 11.945. Unfortunately the small dip led to a bigger one after that, as the week ended with the pound falling back to 11.913. This added up to a loss of 0.03 overall.
Moving on swiftly, let’s hope the New Zealand dollar would bring better luck for the British pound. Here the starting rate was 2.1632, and again the pound was going to start well by moving up to 2.1646 the following day. But it was too early to become overly optimistic as we have already seen good beginnings dissolve into poor endings this week.
Indeed, Thursday’s drop back to 2.1642 looked a little ominous and it was followed by a dip down to 2.1563 the following day. This once again left the pound lacking for the second half of the week, with a loss of 0.0069 to nurse as the weekend arrived.
Finally we have to see whether the pound managed to improve on the 1.6517 it was left with after tackling the Australian dollar for the first two days of the week. Would it manage more positive results as the week came to a close?
Wednesday evening looked promising as the British pound achieved 1.6555 for starters. From then on it went up to 1.6602 on Thursday, but we still had one day to go and we’ve already seen poor closing results with other currencies this week.
Here things would be different though. By Friday evening we had achieved a closing rate of 1.6677, meaning the pound was stronger by just over a cent and a half when compared to Tuesday evening. This at least was a good end to the week.
Notable events in the world of currency
British pound drops noticeably against the Canadian dollar
We had a bad time against this currency, going from 1.5590 on Tuesday to just 1.5377 on Friday night.
Good news for the pound against the Swiss franc
There was better news elsewhere though as the pound moved up from 1.6353 to 1.6551 against the Swiss currency.
Another good time against the Japanese yen
We also had a notable increase against the yen last week, as the pound went from 142.977 to 144.252 between Wednesday morning and Friday night.
News of how the pound is dropping from a previous good time against the Euro was reported on the Reuters website last week. This just goes to show how the British pound is struggling at the moment to maintain anything like good results over time.
So there we have it for another report. Hopefully we can soon start reporting on some much better results than we have of later, particularly after this disappointing end to the week. We’ll see you next time.
It’s amazing to think that the pound is dragging its heels at the moment. I’m dreading what will happen if we end up with the hung parliament everyone seems to think we’ll get after the Election.
I don’t think it will do this country any good at all to have a hung parliament – and the pound certainly won’t handle it very well either. There is no way it will get stronger unless we have a change in government. Then maybe people will be hopeful of a change and some more positive developments again.
Until then I can’t see any real change happening. For the next week or two we’ll keep on seeing the pound doing badly and not managing any real progress. Fingers crossed for May 6th!
I’ve read stories about this prospect of a hung parliament and although a few people have said it could be a good thing, it doesn’t seem very promising at all, like Allison says.
My only thought is that perhaps the pound will still be able to beat the Euro because that is having problems of its own. All the trouble Greece is in at the moment means that it is hard for the currency to really make any good headway. That at least gives the pound a better position than it would have had otherwise.
Oh well at least we can try and keep our fingers crossed for a last minute election win by the Tories. Well that’s my hope anyway – we’ll soon find out.
I have to say everyone is being a bit negative about the fate of the pound at the moment. I’m not saying it isn’t struggling, but I will say that it is probably doing better than the Euro.
We always seem to think the pound is worse off than the single currency, but with the situation as it is in Greece this is really damaging for the Euro at the moment. I would love to know how the Euro will get out of this situation. I think the UK election will help the pound (unless we get a hung parliament) but the situation in Europe is set to last a lot longer I reckon.
Could we see the demise of the Euro in the near future? Some have said it could happen.
I had to add another comment here after re-reading my old one. I was predicting the potential demise of the Euro before all the experts! Now is that a good prediction or not?
Of course I know we are a long way off this happening just yet. And who knows, it could never happen. But since the history books are firmly against it, I think we shall indeed be waving goodbye to the Euro before too long. And not a minute too soon, in my opinion. Okay so it gives me one less currency to follow on the currency and Forex markets. But just think of all the old currencies that would come back. Wouldn’t it be great to see the franc and the Deutschmark back again?