GBP EUR Exchange Rate Down, GBP AUD & GBP NZD Climb

Published: Friday, 24 May 2013 10:00 BST - Written by Minesh Chaudhari

STORY LINK GBP EUR Exchange Rate Down, GBP AUD & GBP NZD Climb

Last night’s Asian equities session brought a return to something approaching normal service – Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which had plummeted by over 7% during Thursday trading, provided evidence of this. Japan’s leading equities exchange closed up by 0.89%, suggesting that market participants had recovered their nerve following the dismal Chinese HSBC Manufacturing PMI survey, published during the early part of Thursday’s session, which revealed that the key sector of the world’s second largest economy had contracted in April for the first time in seven months.

Up to this point in the trading day, the US Dollar has performed relatively strongly, sending the Pound to US Dollar exchange rate (currency : GBP USD) back down below the 1.5100 threshold – Cable is currently trading at 1.5088. In spite of the limited recovery for Asian equities, risk appetite still appears to be in short supply amongst investors, as evidenced by an easing in the relative levels of the Australian and New Zealand Dollars which has send the Pound to Australian Dollar (currency : GBP AUD) exchange rate up as high as 1.5620 and the Pound to new Zealand Dollar exchange rate (currency : GBP NZD) up to 1.8685. Last night’s domestic Trade Balance data for last month has been an additional factor weighing down the Kiwi Dollar. The latest import/export figures showed a monthly surplus of only NZD157m versus analysts’ expectations of a showing of NZD480m. The evidence that the historically strong value of the New Zealand Dollar in recent months is increasingly holding back the Antipodean nation’s economy is mounting. With this in mind, further losses could be possible for the kiwi in the near term.

Elsewhere, the euro has held its ground so far today and the pound to euro exchange rate (currency : GBP EUR) remains tucked in below the 1.1700 level. This morning’s German GDP data for Q1 printed exactly as per expectations and the single currency has enjoyed a small relief rally as a result.

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