Euro, pound see gains on news

Story link: Euro, pound see gains on news

The euro and the pound both gained on the US dollar on Monday, while the greenback was also lower versus the Swedish krona and the Korean won as equities markets gained, inducing more investors to look for riskier currency trades.

The pound made its gains as Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) said it has had a strong start to the year after having also reported that it made a before-tax profit of £6.08 billion last year.

Barclays could also make up to £5 billion if it decides to sell its iShares fund management unit.

While the report by Barclays, which joined some US and German banks in claiming profits for the first two months of the year helped the UK currency, a report from Rightmove which said that the average asking price for a home in the UK was down an average of 9 percent on an annualized basis this month could have a negative effect on the pound.

The euro, meanwhile, made gains as the G20 nations said they would continue the effort to end the global recession, including doubling the resources of the International Monetary Fund so that it can continue to support nations with troubled economies.

In midday trade in New York, the pound traded at 92.28p to the euro while it cost $1.4902 to buy a pound.

The dollar traded lower at $1.3004 to the euro while it was worth 1495 South Korean won and it took kr8.4487 to buy a greenback.

At the same time, the yen traded lower at ¥98.19 to the US dollar and at ¥127.6853 to the euro.