Exchange Rates Outlook: Pound to Euro & Pound to Dollar Down Despite Strong UK Housing Data

Modified: Friday, 14 June 2013 15:49 BST - Written by John Cameron

STORY LINK Exchange Rates Outlook: Pound to Euro & Pound to Dollar Down Despite Strong UK Housing Data

The Pound received a boon earlier today when a detailed survey of the British housing sector revealed that the average sale price of properties in England and Wales reached £233,061 during April. This was the highest recorded reading for the figure, meaning that Britain’s housing market appears to have recovered from the credit crisis which began in 2007. The recent improvement in the UK housing sector has been attributed to an increase in the availability of mortgage financing in the Britain during recent months due to the Bank of England’s Funding For Lending scheme.

In spite of the encouraging UK housing data, Sterling has struggled to assert itself against the other sixteen most-actively traded global currencies on the day. The Pound to US Dollar exchange rate (currency : GBP USD) has edged lower by almost half of a percentage point and is currently trading at 1.5638, whilst the UK tender has endured an equally poor session against the high-yielders, sending the GBP AUD and GBP NZD exchange rates down to 1.6282 and 1.9370 respectively.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, the latest US Current Account Balance data was published this afternoon and it proved to be supportive to the US Dollar. The import / export data for Q1 revealed that the world’s largest economy had a narrower than anticipated trade gap of $106.1 bn last month. The figure, which bettered expectations by over $5bn provides further evidence that the vast American economy is healing. Investors will be given further direction on the future prospects of the Greenback on Wednesday afternoon when the Federal Reserve announces its latest policy move. The Buck is badly in need of some indication that the Fed may be tapering its controversial Quantitative Easing programme sooner rather than later in order to recover the ground which it has lost in recent weeks.

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TAGS: American Dollar Forecasts Currency Predictions Dollar Poun Forecasts