Political and economic pressure on sterling

Political and economic pressure on sterling

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Calls from some Labor Members of Parliament for British Prime Minister Tony Blair to resign, coupled with poor manufacturing output figures for March in the UK, combined to send sterling down against several currencies on Monday.

Sterling did manage to rise in relation to the yen, but only very slightly, to ¥198.66. Otherwise, sterling was down 0.3 percent to $1.8835 against the dollar, and fell 0.5 percent to £0.6813 in relation to the euro as well as down 0.4 percent against the Swiss franc to SFr2.2717.

Besides being down in relation to sterling, the yen was also down in relation to the dollar, 0.4 percent to ¥105.55. The yen also fell 0.6 percent to ¥135.43. These losses by the yen were put down to the fact that China has still not acted to revalue the renminbi.

Additionally, the rand fell 1.4 percent to R6.1113 in relation to the dollar. This was despite the announcement that Barclay’s Bank will purchase a majority share of the South African bank Absa.