We had a look at this particular currency pairing last month to see what the currency converter would make of them. But since we were fast coming up to Election Day in the UK, it is worth exploring the two currencies again to see whether the pound would be hampered by the idea of a possible new government coming up very soon.
On the last day of March the pound had an exchange rate of 1.5148 against the US dollar. It then experienced a nice jump to round off that first week on 1.5220. But would this improvement last for any length of time?
It actually dropped back to 1.5195 on the 8th but after that – just twenty four hours later – it was a very different story. By this time it was sitting on 1.5348. There was even better news to come though, as over the coming days the British pound managed to up things even further. By the 16th it was sitting proudly on an exchange rate of 1.5431.
But as we so often see in the currency world, pride comes before a fall, and it wouldn’t be long before the pound saw that same fall. On the opening day of trading for the following week the pound ended up on 1.5254, losing nearly two cents in the process. This wasn’t exactly the best start to the week we had been hoping for, but there were still a few days left in the month to try and grab a better rate for.
And the very next day we did indeed get a better result, as the pound soared up to 1.5386. A couple of marginal improvements over the next couple of days saw it settle on 1.5389 before moving back down to 1.5347 to close out that week.
It certainly didn’t seem as if the announcement of a General Election in the UK was affecting the pound too badly at the moment. With that said though the news started to filter through that the result could be a hung parliament, and that could have hampered the pound’s efforts to do well against the US dollar.
Whatever the opinions were, the reality was that on the final Monday of the month the pound finished the day on 1.5446. This was very nearly equivalent to the highest exchange rate the pound achieved during the whole of April. But it was not to last for the rest of the month.
Instead the very next day saw the pound move down to 1.5327, and the day after that it dropped further to 1.5210. While it then managed to regain a little ground – ending the month on 1.5299 in the process – it was clearly on a lower standing than it had been earlier.
In total then the pound had added on a cent and a half during the month of April, so at least we were starting May off on the right footing.
Wow so it was good news all in all for the pound during the month shown above. That really surprised me as I have been following it week on week and it didn’t seem to be doing too well. It just goes to show how things can change when you look at the bigger picture, doesn’t it?
Mind you this was for April, so perhaps when we see the data for the exchange rates from May through the General Election period, we will see something different. I haven’t really looked yet so I will be interested to find out how the whole of May looks once it is over. Perhaps it won’t be such a good month all in all? We shall see.
I agree with the person who posted the comment above – I think sometimes we can look too closely at the day to day picture and what happens in the long term completely passes us by.
I’d like to know how people decide where to review a currency though. Do you look at it a week at a time? A month at a time, or maybe longer? This is the weird part because sometimes it depends on what time period you look at as to how good a particular currency is doing.
It doesn’t just apply to the pound either – it applies to all the currencies. I suppose we should just take things as we find them. I don’t know how people who do Forex manage!