Here we are again to report back on the first two days of the new trading week on the currency markets. If you remember from last time, the British pound had a mixed week with some good results and some not as promising ones as well. However this was better than the previous report where we struggled to find anything good to say.
The three good results we had to close out the previous week with were against the US dollar, the Euro and the Hong Kong dollar. We didn’t do so well against the New Zealand dollar or the Aussie dollar, but at least our losses there were limited.
So let’s move on and see how the new week began.
An overview of the currency markets for July 26th – July 27th 2010
Let us begin as usual with the rates against the US dollar. Last time we left things on 1.5404 and by Monday evening we had improved this to 1.5500. This was certainly a good start and we also managed to keep it up. The final figure for Tuesday evening for the British pound versus the US dollar was 1.5548.
We couldn’t have hoped for a better start really, but the question is whether it will be seen against all the other currencies as well. Get your currency converter ready – we’re about to take a look at the Euro next.
Our starting point here is the exchange rate of 1.1944 and we did get the good start we wanted too – with a rate of 1.1986 by Monday evening. Unfortunately in this case we could not sustain it and we ended up on 1.1930 by Tuesday night. So all in all we lost a tiny amount here.
Let’s move on to the Hong Kong dollar now, where we last left things on 11.968. We wanted to follow the pattern set by the US dollar and we certainly did that initially, climbing to 12.041 on the first day. We did better still on the second day as we finished on 12.075 in total.
Next up is the New Zealand dollar, where we begin with 2.1190 to the pound. We started well, climbing to 2.1283 on Monday, but we couldn’t sustain it and fell back to 2.1071 on Tuesday.
Would we see a similar pattern against the Aussie dollar though? Our starting rate of 1.7232 went up slightly to 1.7291 on day one, but fell back (just as the Kiwi dollar had) to 1.7182 the next day.
So it was a mixed start to the week which made us wonder how it would all end.
Notable events in the world of currency
The Euro climbs against the US dollar
The Euro had a great start to the week here, climbing from 1.2897 to 1.3033 over the course of two days.
… but very little change against the Canadian dollar
The Euro moved hardly at all here, going from 1.3386 to begin with to a slightly lower rate of 1.3382 on Tuesday night.
A good result against the Russian currency though
The Euro did do better here though, rising from 39.143 to open the week and ending up on 39.355 on Tuesday night.
We have seen some promising results by the British pound against the American dollar recently, and this was borne out by a news story on the Reuters website recently. You can read it here.
Strong sales have been the reason behind this rise, so it will be interesting to see whether this continues in the future. As you will see in the news story the pound hasn’t been this strong against the US dollar in several months, so it is nice to see some good news for a change.
We would like to see better results against the Euro too, but this is perhaps a more complex situation. After the tales of woe surrounding the Euro recently, these seem to have abated for a while. The question is whether or not those tales will resurface at any point.
Regardless of what happens next, you can be assured that we will be back to report on the latest currency news in the next few days.
It is certainly promising to see a stronger British pound taking on the markets at the moment. I’m involved in business and I see some of the consequences of a weaker pound on the economy. When the pound becomes stronger more people have confidence in it and in investing in the UK. Hopefully the recent highs – particularly against the US dollar – will not prove to be short term in nature.
I doubt this will be the case though. Having read the reports and kept an eye on exchange rates in this field for a while now, the general trend is definitely on the up. The two dollar pound may not be back for some time yet, but I am encouraged to see another good week here.
I love reading the comments left by other people on these currency reports. I’m not involved in business nor do I have any need or desire to invest in the Forex markets. But I do enjoy reading about currencies and learning more about them, which is why I love seeing the ebb and flow of the markets on a weekly basis.
Personally I was glad when the currency reports went to a twice weekly format. Monday to Monday each time seemed like a long time to wait! Little doses of information on a regular basis are ideal for me, and it gives me a better sense of the bigger picture as well. I guess you could say I am a hobbyist with currencies!
It was interesting to read the comments from the above poster, TKL, on how the currency markets affect their business. I don’t have this worry so it is fascinating to see how other people are so intent on keeping an eye on developments. If I had a business like theirs I could see how important it would be. From my point of view it is really nothing more than a hobby to read about how things develop and for me to speculate on what might happen next. But it’s good to see how other people can react totally differently to it.
I wonder how TKL will be feeling now that the pound seems to be heading into another weaker period of time?