Welcome to the latest currency report, giving us an overview of how well (or not) the pound did on the currency markets last week. Would it manage to achieve good results or do we have a disappointing report in store? Let’s see.
An overview of the currency markets for October 29th – November 2nd 2012
So let’s start the week by focusing on the exchange rate between the British pound and the US dollar. The pound started on 1.6110, but by the end of day one it had fallen back considerably to 1.6031. It recovered partially throughout the week and achieved a high point of 1.6155 on Thursday evening, but unfortunately it couldn’t sustain it to finish the week. Instead it fell back to 1.6030 instead.
So could the pound do any better against the Euro? The opening rate here was 1.2481 and again there was an initial drop, this time to 1.2429. By the time we got to Wednesday evening the pound had fallen to 1.2400, so we were wondering whether it would recover at all to finish the week. Fortunately it battled back over two days to reach 1.2475, a little less than it had started the week on.
Let’s see whether things were any better against the Hong Kong dollar now. Here the pound began with a rate of 12.486 and while it dropped on day one, it was back to 12.486 on Wednesday evening. Thursday saw a better rate of 12.520 before the pound fell back to a disappointing 12.423.
Next up it’s the New Zealand dollar, where the pound started on 1.9645. It dropped immediately on day one, and it took until Wednesday to perk back up again, reaching a high of 1.9604 in the process. Unfortunately the week ending rate dropped a lot lower than that, culminating in a disappointing 1.9377 as a result.
Finally let’s see if the Australian dollar put in a similar performance against the pound as the New Zealand dollar did. Here the pound began the week on 1.5584 and after just one day of trading this had fallen to 1.5480. It then perked up again and hit a high of 1.5552 on Thursday evening. Unfortunately it then dropped to close out the week on 1.5436.
Notable events in the world of currency
A drop against the Canadian dollar
The pound fell here too last week, falling from 1.6057 to 1.5946 overall.
A small drop against the Swiss franc as well
Here the pound had another predictable fall, but at least this time it was not a large one. It started the week on 1.5089 and ended it on 1.5061.
Three out of three as the pound falls against the Chinese currency too
Here we had another perhaps predictable result, as the pound fell from 10.067 to 10.005 over the course of the week.
So it was not a very good week for the pound overall, although it did manage to stem a few losses against some of the major currencies after early and more significant falls. It remains to be seen whether the currency can strengthen its position over the coming weeks. We shall be watching to see whether this occurs.
Of course as far as the situation with the US dollar is concerned, this could be influenced by the Presidential election in the US. So it could be an interesting couple of weeks ahead, as we see how well – or badly – the British pound performs against this and other currencies. You never can tell whether a good start to the week bodes well or not, or whether a bad start will get worse or lead to a better ending. So we shall be back next week to see whether the British currency has some better results in store, or whether we have more bad news to impart. We shall see you then.