Exchange Rates Outlook: Pound Sterling (GBP) Gains vs AUD NZD ZAR CAD & NOK

September 25, 2013 - Written by Ben Hughes

STORY LINK Exchange Rates Outlook: Pound Sterling (GBP) Gains vs AUD NZD ZAR CAD & NOK

Sterling has gained ground against the high-yielders and the commodity currencies including AUD NZD ZAR CAD & NOK on the day. Elsewhere, a positive US data set could send Cable lower again.

The Pound Norwegian Krone exchange rate (GBP/NOK) is currently trading up by 1.30% at 9.6795 GBP/USD. The Norwegian Krone Pound exchange rate is currently trading at 0.1033 NOK/GBP.

Market participants have shied away from risk-laden assets so far today sending the Pound to Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD), Pound to New Zealand Dollar (GBP/NZD) and Pound to South African Rand (GBP/ZAR) exchange rates sharply higher. The commodity-driven Canadian Dollar and Norwegian Krone have also given up ground on the day, sending GBP CAD and GBP NOK higher by 0.42% and 1.29%.

Losses for the Canadian Dollar and the Norwegian tender this week have been driven by a slump in the price of a barrel of crude oil in the global market. Yesterday’s session saw the value of black gold dip to its lowest level since 30th July, ending the day at $103 per barrel. The two commodity-fuelled units have also been downsold over investors’ concerns that the US Federal Reserve is set to trim its Quantitative Easing programme before the end of the year. Price action for GBP CAD and GBP NOK suggests that market participants view the announcement from the US Federal Reserve earlier this month that it will not be cutting its asset purchase scheme just yet as a temporary reprieve.

Elsewhere, a stronger than expected showing from this afternoon’s US Durable Goods Orders data has the potential to cause the GBP USD exchange rate back down below the 1.6000 threshold where it was trading earlier today. Analysts had been expecting the US number to show at -0.2%, so the 0.1% print came as a positive for the Greenback. However, the relatively muted response from investors to the release suggests that it is unlikely to have a pronounced effect on their thinking regarding any potential cut in QE from the Fed.

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