Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Predictions For GBP AUD, NZD, SGD, HKD & USD For Today

March 8, 2013 - Written by Tim Boyer

STORY LINK Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Predictions For GBP AUD, NZD, SGD, HKD & USD For Today

Last night’s Chinese Trade Balance data made for interesting reading for investors holding an array of different currencies. The import / export numbers from the world’s second-largest economy painted a decidedly mixed picture.

On the debit side, last month’s Chinese import figures showed a marked drop-off in comparison with February 2012. The decrease of 15.2% was far worse than the -8.5% showing which analysts had been anticipating. The news came as particularly bad news for investors holding currencies including the New Zealand and Australian Dollar, as well as the Singapore and Hong Kong Dollar, due to their respective economies’ heavy dependence on healthy levels of demand from China’s vast domestic market. Although the disappointing Chinese import figure can be partially discounted thanks to the fact that February was a shortened month due to domestic the New Year Holidays, it would appear that the AUD, NZD, SGD and HKD may now experience an element of downside in the short-to-medium term.

More positively, the Chinese trade data went on to reveal that exports from the ‘workshop of the world’ expanded by a mammoth year-on-year 21.8% last month. This outstripped economists’ expectations by a huge 13.7%, suggesting that the generalised state of demand in the global economy remains healthy. The news will be likely to benefit investor sentiment, a development which may cause renewed selling pressure on the safe-haven US Dollar. The current Pound US Dollar exchange rate (currency : GBP USD) stands at 1.5034.

GBP USD was afforded further direction on the release of February's Non-Farm Payroll figures in the US. An improvement on January’s print of 157,000 was expected – analysts were therefore highly surprised when the figure printed well ahead of expectations at 236,000, sending the GBP USD exchange rate all the way down to 1.4885, its lowest level since June, 2010.

International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements.

TAGS: American Dollar Forecasts Australian Dollar Forecasts Dollar Pound Forecasts Forecasts