GBP/EUR Exchange Rate Gains, GBP/AUD & GBP/NZD Decline

Modified: Thursday, 9 May 2013 10:27 BST - Written by Ben Hughes

STORY LINK GBP/EUR Exchange Rate Gains, GBP/AUD & GBP/NZD Decline

Last night’s Asian session was marked by a pronounced downside move for both the Pound to Australian Dollar exchange rate (currency : GBP AUD) and the Pound to new Zealand Dollar exchange rate (currency : GBP NZD). Both Antipodean tenders enjoyed strong support overnight thanks to better than anticipated domestic employment data.

New Zealand lead the way with labour market data for Q1 2013, which surprised analysts by revealing that the domestic rate of joblessness had unexpectedly decreased to 6.2% during the three months to the end of March. Economists had been anticipating that the level of unemployment would remain level at 6.8%. The Kiwi had been under heavy selling pressure in the lead up to last night’s release thanks to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s announcement that it had intervened in the global currency markets in order to weaken the Kiwi Dollar in an attempt to boost the nation’s exporters.

Hot on the heels of last night’s New Zealand unemployment figures came the latest Australian jobs numbers. The figures for April also showed a surprise drop from 5.6% in March to 5.5% last month. The news helped the Australian Dollar improve against the Pound, sending the GBP AUD exchange rate down into the middle 1.5100s during last night’s trading session.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the Pound to Euro exchange rate (currency : GBP EUR) has registered gains in early trading today thanks to the publication of the latest European Central bank monthly report. Significantly, the ECB trimmed its 2013 growth forecast from 0.0% down to -0.4% in the report. The single currency has suffered as a consequence and GBP EUR may now trend upwards towards the band of resistance just above the 1.1900 level which it has tested and bounced down off on two separate occasions since January.

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TAGS: Australian Dollar Forecasts Daily Currency Updates New Zea Forecasts