And so we begin another week on the currency markets, and it would turn out to be a memorable one for the British pound. By the time the week was over we were left wondering what would happen next. Let’s find out what the currency had in store this week.
An overview of the currency markets for February 11th – February 15th 2013
As the week began we saw the British pound on 1.5801 against the US dollar. But just one day into the new week this had fallen significantly to 1.5689. We were not surprised then to find another drop was in store the following day, as the pound fell to 1.5598. It appeared we were on a downward slide at the moment, as the rot set in and caused the pound to finish the week on a disappointing 1.5486.
So would we be on a similar footing with the Euro as well? Here we began on 1.1815 and by the end of day one this had been reduced to 1.1716. A similar loss was on the cards the next day too, as the pound slid to 1.1607. The low point came the following day as the pound slipped to 1.1547. But then we at least managed to pick up a little before the week was out, finishing on 1.1622 in the process.
Our next stop is with the Hong Kong dollar, and here we started on 12.255 and immediately slid back to 12.167 by the end of day one. By now we were starting to think this was a familiar pattern, and we did indeed fall a little every single day of the week. At least it was a consistent pattern, but it did mean we finished up on 12.009 by the time Friday night came along.
So far we are three for three in terms of bad results, so would we have more of the same from New Zealand and Australia? Let’s check on New Zealand first; the pound was worth 1.8859 at the start of the week and it experienced a marginal drop to 1.8841 on day one. However this was the beginning of a somewhat predictable pattern by now, albeit one that was looking rather disappointing. By the time the week was over the pound had dropped significantly here to 1.8250.
By now it was unlikely the pound would achieve anything notable against the Australian dollar. And indeed it made five out of five bad results for the week. Here the pound started things off on 1.5291 and ended them on 1.4987 – another significant drop that is full of disappointment across the markets this week.
Notable events in the world of currency
More bad news against the Canadian dollar
We didn’t really expect good news here, but the early rise from 1.5786 to 1.5810 was promising. However the week ended up with the pound worth 1.5527 instead.
Another loss against the Swiss franc
Here the pound went from 1.4511 on Monday morning to 1.4299 on Friday night.
And another steady slide against the Chinese yuan
Here we saw the pound start on 9.853 and it gradually lost ground over the week to finish on 9.6517.
So it was an incredibly disappointing week for the British pound. Normally we can pick through the results and find at least one reasonable performance. But this time there was nothing but disappointment and frustration. The one upside is that we cannot remember a time when we had two weeks like this in a row. So perhaps next week will be a lot better than this one. We can only wait and see.
Perhaps we should feel philosophical about it and hopefully look forward to some better results over time. The pound has some ground to make up for in doing so badly on this week alone, but if it can start to make that ground back over next week, perhaps things will start looking up. We shall be here to see what happens.