Dollar falls from high as sterling reels from bombings

Story link: Dollar falls from high as sterling reels from bombings

The US dollar ended the week at about the same place it began against the euro, closing on Friday at $1.1930 even though it had reached a 13-month high against the European currency earlier in the week.

Payrolls data out of the US were disappointing as figures showed 146,000 jobs were created in June, 50,000 less than had been expected.

The Swiss franc ended the week down 0.3 percent in relation to the US dollar, ending at SFr1.3015, even though it is considered a safe investment in times of upheaval.

Meanwhile, sterling was down 1.7 percent in relation to the US dollar this week, to close at $1.7357 on Friday, a nineteen-month low. It fell 1.9 percent on the week against the euro, to £0.6876, and declined by 1.3 percent this week to ¥194.72 in relation to the yen.

Sterling has lost 4.8 percent to the dollar and 3.6 percent to the euro in the past two weeks. Thursday’s events in London, say some analysts, have given investors one more reason among others to shed the pound. Despite this feeling, most analysts believe that with sterling on the slide anyway, the effects of the terrorist attacks in London will not be long-lasting.

There had been rumors of an emergency meeting of the Bank of England to cut interest rates, but these were denied. An announcement that there would be no change in rates this month had come out of the regular meeting of the Bank of England on Thursday.