So let us take a fresh look at how things have been progressing between the British pound and the Canadian dollar recently. At the end of April the pound was bagging 1.5372 Canadian dollars so anything which went beyond this for May would have been good to see. But did we manage to do it?
The first day back after the weekend was interesting, since the exchange rate on the currency converter went to 1.5463. So it was first blood to the pound, but could we keep this up for the long term? One day of exchange rates is very different from a whole month, after all.
The onus was definitely on the pound for the first few days at least, as we steadily moved up to claim an exchange rate of 1.5590 on the 6th. But just one day later – and at the end of the week – the exchange rate dropped to 1.5239, closing out the week a full three and a half cents lower than the day before.
The following week kicked off with the pound managing to claim back a marginal increase to 1.5333, but that was as good as it got for a few days at least. The very next day saw a drop to 1.5159 while the final rate for the week turned out to be 1.4971. This wasn’t going the way we were hoping for, so while the Canadian dollar was looking stronger the pound was left in a much weaker position going into the weekend.
If we were hoping for an early surge back the following week we didn’t get it either. Instead we had a drop to 1.4855 after two days of trading, which made us wonder whether we had already seen the best part of the week very early on. But there was a twist coming up that we weren’t prepared for – and we should imagine it came as very bad news for those who wanted to see the Canadian dollar do well.
By the end of that same week the exchange rate changed to 1.5404 – giving the pound a surge forward of over four cents in a single week. Needless to say this was very positive for the pound, so hopefully it would start a trend that would continue for a while at least.
The following week opened with an ending rate on Monday of 1.5212, but the next day saw the currency crawl back up to 1.5496. And indeed the last few days did turn out to be a bit choppy in this sense. By the time the month ended the pound had snagged a closing rate of 1.5193. This meant we had actually lost out on nearly two cents against the Canadian dollar over the course of the month. This was a disappointing end given the good results we’d had during the month, but if we cannot hang onto those good results during the weeks in between we cannot expect to do well overall.
Surprise, surprise – the pound has a good run and then ruins it at the end. I suppose it all depends on what you would expect from the currency and which time period you are looking at. But going month on month is certainly disappointing from where I am sitting.
I guess I am overly critical of the pound since this is the currency I use every day. Maybe other people in other countries get critical of how their currency is performing as well. But it would be good to have a more consistent performance from the pound. I’m not expecting miracles but wouldn’t it be nice to see it in a stronger position? I certainly think so, but maybe I am alone in that?
I think this is a bit over critical to be honest. The pound cannot be expected to do hugely well all the time. Instead of looking at the best part of the month you have looked at the tiny bit at the end and focused on the negative part instead. Why not just focus on the best bet? Or better still, why not focus on the whole picture, where you get the good and the bad parts of the story?
This would be better because it wouldn’t result in negative comments about the pound all the time. I can get disheartened by the results sometimes as well, but there is always a good side to it as well. Why can’t you see that bit too?
To my mind this is where the reports on this site are really worth reading. Not just the reports themselves but the comments after them. I love reading about the currency and financial markets because I like to see how quickly things can change from good to bad and back again.
The currencies also have the ability to bring out strong emotions in people. For me, the closest I get to currency is going out to pay cash for my shopping. I have no desire to trade or to try and make money from them. Instead I am happy to focus on the movements for their own sake, and to see how other people react to them. Am I the only one who feels like this?