Could the Swiss Franc Stand Up to the British Pound?

So how did things begin between these two currencies as August got underway? The pound was worth 1.5324 against the Swiss currency, and we immediately got off on the wrong foot by dropping to 1.5254 on the 1st of the month. Indeed the currency dropped further the following day before regaining the 1.5254 position to finish off the week as a whole.

The first full week of the month was a challenge for the British pound as it tried to do better than this. Unfortunately it dipped back rather than surging ahead, but it managed to pull back and finish on 1.5276 on Friday evening.

It soon became clear that small and slow gains were the order of the day for the pound this month, while small losses were also seen on some days. This meant the finishing rate for the next week was a slightly better 1.5297, giving us hope we might get back to the point we’d started from originally.

Just to illustrate the topsy turvy nature of the month, the following week saw a high of 1.5329 on Monday and a low of 1.5181 on Thursday. It then recovered slightly to finish the week in better health on a rate of 1.5208.

So now there were just a few more days to go until the end of the month. This news was greeted by an immediate drop in exchange rate to 1.5155 by the pound, disappointing to say the least. Suddenly it looked as if the month would not end on a good note. Instead it would end up with a last minute surge by the Swiss franc to beat the pound in the markets. And this is exactly what happened. In the end we saw the pound beaten back to 1.5100 by the close of play on the 31st August – a disappointing performance that meant the pound was far down on where it had begun just a few short weeks before.