Here we are, entering the final month of 2011 and wondering whether the Euro will still be with us as we approach the end of the year. Dire warnings have been given about the single currency on the currency converter – but what about the British pound? How has this currency been doing in recent days?
An overview of the currency markets for October 31st – November 4th 2011
The last time we caught up with the British pound against the US dollar we had an exchange rate of 1.5457 to contend with. But it seemed as if this week would go our way as we immediately rose to 1.5553 on Monday night. Things kept on improving as well, and by the end of the week we were sitting on a rate of 1.5706.
So what would happen against the Euro? Would the pound have the strength to put in a good show here as well? Our opening rate was 1.1684, and although we dropped a little bit of ground on day one we made it up the next day, climbing to 1.1414 as a result. Unfortunately that was the peak of the trading over the week and we ended up on 1.1625 on Friday evening.
Next up we have the Hong Kong dollar to consider. Here we started on 12.051 and very soon climbed to 12.122 on Monday. But things were going to get better still as well, and in fact we only dipped slightly on Friday. But we still managed to get a closing rate of 12.201 on that day, so it was a good result.
Next it’s the turn of the New Zealand dollar, and here we were starting on 2.0923. But the change in fortunes was not a good one, and we immediately fell to 2.0617 on Monday. Things carried on sliding downhill that day as well, leaving us on 2.0106 by the time the week was over.
Finally it’s the turn of the Australian dollar to go up against the British pound. Sometimes this will follow the pattern seen against the New Zealand dollar, and indeed it seemed to be the case this time as well. We started on 1.5965 but it wasn’t long before that figure was a thing of the past. Finally we ended up on 1.5269 by Friday night.
Notable events in the world of currency
A fall for the pound against the Canadian dollar
Things didn’t go our way here either last week. We fell from 1.6255 to 1.5920 over the course of the trading week.
A slight improvement against the Swiss franc
Here things looked a little better as the pound went from 1.4316 to 1.4348.
But better news against the Chinese yuan
Here we did better, climbing from 9.8506 to 9.9630 over the course of the week.
Perhaps some expected our performance to be better last week, but when you look at the bigger picture you can see why we did not perform as well as we would have liked. Most of this is down to the economy and the fact that the UK is starting to struggle once again when it comes to avoiding another recession. This article from Reuters explains this situation a little more, so you can see how the bigger picture can affect the way we see the entire situation.
It is hard to see how the pound will end 2011 on a good note, but we must see how things progress with the Euro. So far inaction has been the main culprit in seeing this particular currency in a bad position, but it could get worse still. As it affects the pound as well, we shall be watching closely to see what happens next. Could we be about to find out whether the Euro will come with us into 2012, or be left behind as a relic?