April 2017 News Archive

The Pound Australian Dollar exchange rate rose today following yesterday’s release of the latest Australian inflation gauge. The nation’s inflation figure rose less than expected, dampening confidence in Australia’s economic recovery. The pairing is currently trading around AU$1.79. Sarah Hunter, chief economist for BIS Oxford...

Despite Canadian Dollar weakness earlier in the week, the currency experienced a fresh surge in demand after yesterday’s Bank of Canada (BoC) policy decision and the British Pound to Canadian Dollar (GBP/CAD) exchange rate plummeted again. Since opening this week at the level of 1.7305, GBP/CAD has been trending with an upside bias as...

While the Pound struggled to mount much of a recovery against other major currencies this week, the Pound to US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate has been gradually advancing. The Pound is benefitting from weakness in the US Dollar. Last week saw GBP/USD tumble from the level of 1.3830 down to 1.3705, as the Pound was sold in a bout of...

The past week has seen both the Pound and US Dollar sold from their best levels, but the British Pound to US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate is tumbling as the Pound was hit particularly hard by a shift in market appetite. Both currencies have seen strong movement in recent weeks, leading to GBP/USD volatility. Last week, GBP/USD dipped...

Despite fresh signs of resilience in the Eurozone economic outlook, the Euro to US Dollar (EUR/USD) exchange rate has been struggling to recover from this week’s lows as the US Dollar remains broadly appealing in comparison. Unless upcoming US data disappoints investors, the Euro may have a difficult time mounting a more solid recovery....

GBP/EUR Update: Pound to Euro Exchange Rate Rises Thanks to Pre-PMI Optimism On a relatively quiet data day, the recent Pound to Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate rise has been caused by GBP trader optimism about upcoming UK PMI activity readings. Outside of the speculation for PMI readings, the Pound has also appreciated because of reports...

While not significantly disappointing, Tuesday’s Australian inflation results from Q1 2018 were enough to help the Euro to Australian Dollar (EUR/AUD) exchange rate advance throughout the day. This was despite some disappointing business confidence stats from major Eurozone nations. Low Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) interest rate hike...

US Dollar Shakes Off Syrian Intervention Concerns with 0.3% USD/CAD Exchange Rate Rise The US Dollar’s advance against the Canadian Dollar today has come at a troubling time for the US, as the country appears to once again be on the brink of war in the Middle East. Echoing events from a year ago, in the wake of a suspected chemical...

Market concerns about the possibility of a ‘trade war’ being sparked between the US and China have kept considerable pressure on the US Dollar and this made it easier for the British Pound to US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate to advance when markets opened on Monday. Following last Friday’s GBP/USD jump from near 1.4000 to 1.4087,...

- Pound (GBP) Exchange Rates Fall as Recent Snowstorms Encumber UK Services Sector - The Pound US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate took a tumble on Thursday, paring recent gains as markets reacted to a poor performance in the UK’s services sector and easing fears in China-US trade relations. IHS Markit’s latest purchasing managers’...

Forecast-Beating Rise in UK Manufacturing PMI Boosts GBP/EUR Exchange Rate A better-than-expected result for the UK’s March manufacturing PMI has raised demand for the Pound today, although Sterling has struggled in other pairings. The day’s positive UK news has been that the manufacturing PMI for March has shown growth, from 55...

Despite a lack of impressive UK data, the Pound advanced against the New Zealand Dollar on Tuesday. New Zealand markets were closed due as the nation observed the Anzac Day holiday, making the ‘Kiwi’ easy pickings. GBP/NZD opened this week at the level of 1.82. On Tuesday, the pair gained around a cent and hit a high of 1.84. This was...

Pound Sterling Disappointing CBI business surveys and housing market data left the Pound on a downtrend on Monday. Markets were not impressed to find that the business optimism index had plunged from 15 to 1 for the second quarter, suggesting that the economy remains under increasing pressure. With the UK economy showing signs of slowing...

A sharp appreciation for the Euro has followed the outcome of the first round of voting for the French Presidential Election. This has led the Euro to rise from 1.16 to 1.19 against the Japanese Yen, the best exchange rate since late March. Emmanuel Macron, a centrist candidate, has reached the final two as predicted. Less supportively,...

The US Dollar to Japanese Yen exchange rate saw considerable falls last week as geopolitical tension in the US saw investors looking to other ‘safe haven’ assets like the Japanese Yen. USD/JPY plunged from 111.08 to 108.62 last week and when markets opened on Monday this week USD/JPY fell to a fresh five-month-low of 1.08.16. The pair...

The US Dollar to Japanese Yen exchange rate has slumped this week, as rising geopolitical jitters in the US have undermined its sturdiness prompting traders to look elsewhere for ‘safe haven’ assets. USD/JPY began the week trading at the level of 111.08. However, since Monday the pair has lost over a Yen in value to hit a low of 109.42...

Euro traders have been thrown a curveball today, which has ultimately kept the Euro trading closely against the US Dollar. Initially, it looked like a day of losses was due, with Eurozone retail activity contracting in February. Additional negativity was heaped on by European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi and fellow official...

An unexpectedly-strong result from the UK Markit services PMI pushed the Pound Sterling to US Dollar exchange rate up 0.4% on Wednesday. Pound Strengthens but Concerns Remain Over First Quarter Growth After the disappointing performances of the UK’s construction and services PMIs earlier in the week, investors had been concerned that...

The GBP EUR exchange rate tumbled by around half a cent in trading on Monday as markets reacted poorly to an unexpected drop in the UK’s latest Manufacturing PMI. Pound Euro (GBP EUR) Slides as UK Factory Growth Slows The Pound Euro (GBP EUR) exchange rate ceded ground during today’s session as the UK’s latest Manufacturing PMI...

The Pound Sterling to Canadian Dollar (GBP/CAD) exchange rate advanced considerably on Tuesday to reach a three-week-high as investors became wary that Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz would reflect dovishly on recent commodity news. Pound (GBP) Gains as ‘Brexit’ Fears Wane Not only has the Canadian Dollar experienced its own...

Wednesday saw the Euro to US Dollar (EUR/USD) exchange rate trending lower in spite of disappointing US data, as markets continue to speculate on the odds of an imminent Fed rate hike. Greek Worries Continue to Overshadow Euro Exchange Rate It has not been a particularly positive start to the week for the Euro (EUR), with investors...

The Pound Sterling to Canadian Dollar (GBP/CAD) exchange rate has experienced a fast and bumpy downtrend this week to hit a near year-low amid ever-mounting uncertainty towards Sterling. Sterling (GBP) Sinks Under a Mountain of Ecopolitical Anxiety In a week that perhaps demonstrates the Pound’s inability to stay afloat even in a...

During the Australasian session the New Zealand Dollar fell against a number of its most traded currency counterparts. The ‘Kiwi’ dropped to a low of 0.4909 against the Pound, 0.6766 against the Euro and 0.9506 against the Australian Dollar as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) dovish policy statement saw demand for the...

On Monday the US Dollar edged lower against a number of its rivals as the US Services PMI printed below expected levels. Although the report did inspire a softening in the ‘Greenback’ due to the impact it may have on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate outlook, there were positives to be drawn from it. Markit economist Chris Williamson...

On Monday the Indian Rupee brushed a four-month low of 63.77 against the US Dollar despite demand for the North American currency remaining restricted ahead of this week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcement. The US may have published a stream of below-forecast ecostats – upping the odds of the Federal Reserve delaying an...

This week was a game of two halves for the Pound Sterling exchange rate. The British currency gained on the Euro in the first half and trounced its US rival in the second. Demand for the Pound was initially generated by the Bank of England’s meeting minutes as they were more hawkish in tone than many investors had anticipated. Economist Sam...

The Australian Dollar was able to surge by over 1% against the US Dollar on Wednesday and also recorded notable gains against peers like the Pound, Euro and New Zealand Dollar as Australia’s Consumer Price Index for the first quarter eased concerns that the Reserve Bank of Australia might be about to introduce another interest rate cut. The...

The US Dollar fell against the Indian Rupee as the latter currency recovered from a three-and-a-half month low on account of tax worries. Retrospective taxation will be implemented in India causing worries amongst investors—fears that escalated when a finance ministry source stated that despite requests, foreign portfolio investors...

After performing fairly poorly for much of the week, the Rand was able to put on a modest show of strength on Thursday as a broadly weaker US Dollar helped emerging-market and higher-risk currencies climb. While the Rand failed to derive much benefit from better-than-forecast domestic retail sales figures, the South African currency rallied...

With the Bank of Canada’s latest interest rate decision just around the corner, the Canadian Dollar was trending in a softer position against a number of its main currency counterparts. The CAD/GBP exchange rate was trading in the region of 0.5419 while the CAD/USD exchange rate was trading in the region of 0.7979 – down -0.3% on the...

With the situation in Greece looking set to drag on for some time yet, the Euro has come under pressure against a number of its most traded currency counterparts. At the close of last week investors learnt that Hellenic nation has been asked to present its creditors with a revised list of reforms before the end of this week. All the...

The Indian Rupee closed out the week trading in a softer position against the US Dollar as demand for higher-risk assets was reduced by hawkish interest-rate related comments from Federal Reserve officials. Earlier this week the Rupee fluctuated against the ‘Greenback’ as the disappointing US Non-Farm Payrolls report continued to take a...

Before markets closed for the Easter break, the Pound declined against a number of its currency counterparts. The GBP/EUR exchange rate shed 1% to trade in the region of 1.3638 while the GBP/NZD exchange rate fell by -0.6% on the day’s opening levels. Part of the reason for Sterling’s softness was the UK’s sub-par Construction PMI. The...

The South African Rand was holding steady against the US Dollar on Thursday as economists digested the Federal Open Market Committee’s latest policy meeting minutes. The minutes were slightly more hawkish than expected in that they implied several policymakers are still pushing for a June interest rate increase. However, the minutes were...

The Japanese Yen fell against the Pound but strengthened against a broadly softening US Dollar on Wednesday. The Asian asset put on a mixed performance as domestic inflation falling to 0% prompted the Bank of Japan to keep its unprecedented level of fiscal stimulus in place. Economist Junko Nishioka said of the decision; ‘The BOJ appears to...

The Indian Rupee closed out the local session in a softer position against its US peer as Dollar demand increased ahead of the publication of minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting. The Rupee had previously gained on a broadly softening ‘Greenback’ as the US Non-Farm Payrolls report failed to show the...

At the beginning of this week the US Dollar was riding high and trending in an elevated position against a number of its most traded peers thanks to comments issued by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen the previous Friday. Yellen indicated that the Fed is intending to increase interest rates this year. Although the fact had been largely...

The pound rose yesterday against both the euro and the US dollar following the latest batch of data out of the UK economy and fresh comments from the Bank of England regarding future interest rate movements. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that UK gross domestic product grew by 0.8% during the first quarter of 2014,...

The pound gave up some of its recent gains against the euro yesterday after the publication of the latest minutes of the last Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) rate-setting meeting at the Bank of England (BoE) showed that all nine members of the MPC were unanimous in the decision to keep the current monetary policy settings unchanged. ...

The pound opened this short trading week trading at a 4 week high against the euro and a 4 year high against the US dollar. Confidence about the UK economic recovery, concerns about policy initiatives from the European Central Bank (ECB) and little demand for the ‘safe-haven’ demand of the dollar all contributed. In the UK, the...

The pound benefited yesterday from the latest UK inflation data out from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS reported that UK consumer prices expanded at the rate of 1.6% year-on-year in March, down on the 1.7% year-on-year rate reported last month and the lowest rate since October 2009. Howard Archer, Chief Economist at IHS...

The euro remains under pressure on the back of the dovish comments made by the European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi, an increase in tension in the Ukraine and some newspaper reports that Benoit Coure, a member of the ECB ruling council and seen as one of Draghi’s main allies at the ECB said at the weekend that the ECB is ready...

The pound gave up its recent gains yesterday against the euro and the US dollar despite the Bank of England keeping monetary policy unchanged for at least another month. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to maintain the Bank Rate unchanged at its record low level at 0.5%, where it has stood since March 2009 and the size of the...

The pound rose again against both the euro and the US dollar but continues to come off against the high-yielding currencies like the Australian and New Zealand dollars as risk appetite makes a return to the financial markets. The pound also found support from the latest property market survey from the Royal Institute of Chartered...

The pound enjoyed a solid day of gains in the market yesterday rising to within one cent of its January high’s against both the euro and the US dollar finding support in the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS reported that UK industrial production grew by 0.9% in February and by another 2.7% in the year...

The latest US employment report out on Friday disappointed leading to a worldwide sell-off in the stock markets led by technology stocks. The increase in risk aversion allowed the pound to make a strong start to the trading week against the high yielding currencies like the Australian dollar but the pound was otherwise subdued. This...

The US dollar continues to strengthen from recent lows after another piece of better than expected US economic data. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday that the US non-farm payrolls rose by 192,000 during March and the previous two months’ tallies were revised higher by 37,000 in total. In addition, the US...

Despite some worse than expected UK economic data out for the second time this week, the pound continued to recover against the euro as the euro itself came under pressure yesterday. In the UK, the Markit/CIPS services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell from 58.2 in February to a reading of just 57.6 in March, well below expectations...

The pound recovered the losses incurred on Monday after a day of better data releases in the UK and further poor data from the euro zone. In the UK, the Nationwide reported that UK house prices rose by 0.4% in March to reach an average of £180,264 representing a price rise of 9.5% on the previous year, driven by London which continues to...

The pound fell yesterday against the euro after Markit released its latest UK manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) which showed the index has fallen to an eight-month low with a figure of 55.3 in March, down from 56.7 in February. It was not all bad news as the long term average figure is 51.4 and production and new orders...

The pound ended the first quarter of 2014 in subdued fashion after another batch of decidedly mixed data out yesterday. The Bank of England reported that the rate of growth in the UK’s money supply fell by 0.1% in year-on-year terms during February following an expansion of 0.2% in January. Mortgage approvals also fell in February to...

The pound enjoyed a strong start to the trading week, boosted by comments from Bank of England policymaker Ian McCafferty who said yesterday that he sees grounds for hope that the UK economy will pick up following a batch of data pointing to growth. McCafferty said in a newspaper interview that he was "cautiously optimistic" about...

The pound rose sharply against all 16 of the most actively traded currencies in the market after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the UK economy grew by a larger than expected margin of 0.3% in the first quarter of 2013, thus avoiding a triple-dip recession. Strong services sector and North Sea oil production data...

The pound enjoyed a modest pick-up yesterday against the euro after the publication of worse than expected German data for the second day in a row. This increased speculation that the European Central Bank (ECB) may vote for a cut in its official interest rate at its meeting next week on 2 May. The euro opened under pressure yesterday...

Mixed news on the state of the UK economy yesterday as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported yesterday that UK public borrowing has fallen to £120.6 billion over the last financial year, £0.3 billion lower than the previous year’s total of £120.9 billion. The news was a boost for Chancellor George Osborne who has been...

Credit ratings agency Fitch became the second ratings agency in as many months to downgrade the long-term debt of the United Kingdom from its prized AAA status to AA+, albeit with a ‘stable’ outlook to it instead of its previous ‘negative’ outlook. The analysts at Fitch point to the failure of the country to stabilise its general...

The dollar registered strong gains across the board yesterday on a surge in so called ‘safe-haven’ flows as the negative sentiment that has dominated the market all week continues. Overnight, the latest Beige Book from the Federal Reserve confirmed that the US economy grew at a "moderate" pace in March and early April, an...

A report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showing that the global economy is likely to only grow by 3.3% in 2013 gave further impetus to the risk aversion theme currently dominating the world markets. The IMF also trimmed its forecasts for world economic growth for 2014. In its World Economic Outlook, the IMF said that the world...

A combination of poor economic data out of the world’s two largest economies, the USA and China led to a rout in the world’s stock and commodity markets and a large sell-off for high yielding currencies like the Australian and New Zealand dollars and the South African Rand and commodity based currencies like the Canadian dollar. Data...

With worldwide stock markets buoyant with New York and Tokyo prominent, risk appetite continues to dominate the markets, aiding the rise of high yielding currencies and hurting safe haven currencies. The New Zealand dollar is at an all time high against the pound and the Australian dollar is at a 28 year high. By contrast, the US dollar...

The pound fell again yesterday against the majority of the 16 most actively traded currencies in the market after Bank of England policymaker David Miles said that the UK’s current monetary policy needs assessing given the weak economic growth. Miles went on to state that in his opinion, the country's current state suggested the central...

Later today sees the monthly policy announcements from both the Bank of England (BOE) and European Central Bank (ECB). Whilst both are expected to adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach and leave official policy unchanged, given the weakness in the respective economies including the recent loss for the UK of its AAA credit rating and for the...

The short post-Easter trading week started with the pound falling against the majority of the 16 most actively traded currencies yesterday as further poor economic data out of the UK and speculation that the Bank of England may extend its bond buying Quantitative Easing (QE) program on Thursday eroded confidence. Data wise, the Bank of...