Pound Sterling Today: GBP NZD Exchange Rate 1% Down, GBP EUR & GBP AUD Also Dip

Modified: Thursday, 25 July 2013 16:03 BST - Written by Ben Hughes

STORY LINK Pound Sterling Today: GBP NZD Exchange Rate 1% Down, GBP EUR & GBP AUD Also Dip

The New Zealand Dollar has shot ahead against all of the other sixteen most-actively traded global currencies on the day following last night’s Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) statement which was distinctly hawkish in tone. The RBNZ Governor Graeme Wheeler used the statement to convey that he expected his Bank’s Overnight Cash Rate to remain at its current record low level of 2.50% for the remainder of this year. Wheeler stated that following the turn of the year, a tightening of New Zealand’s monetary policy would be required – the extent and timing of this action is dependent on the performance of the Kiwi housing and construction sectors.

Market participants viewed Wheeler’s words as Kiwi-positive, suggesting that they believe that New Zealand will enter a new rate raising cycle ahead of other major global economies. The upshot saw the Pound to New Zealand Dollar exchange rate (currency : GBP NZD) dip to as low as 1.8987 earlier on; the pair had been trading hands at above 1.9200 earlier on.

Elsewhere, the Pound has endured a generally disappointing session so far. Although this morning’s provisional UK GDP data for Q2 showed an increase in activity levels in Britain’s economy from Q1’s 0.3% to 0.6% in the three months leading up to the end of June, the figure still proved to be Sterling-negative. Although the official consensus from economists ahead of the print was that a showing of 0.6% was the most likely outcome, but rumours in the City of London during the past 24hrs suggested that a showing of up to 0.8% was probable given the encouraging tone of recent sector-by-sector PMI surveys. This month’s highly encouraging UK PMI Services survey was probably the single largest driver behind this optimistic projection, given that over three quarters of UK economic activity takes place in the tertiary sector. Sterling may now struggle to re-assert itself against the other majors for the remainder of this week’s trading session.

Today's session has seen the following Pound Sterling exchange rates: Pound to Euro exchange rate (GBP EUR) drops 0.24% to 1.15766, the Pound to Dollar exchange rate more or less steady with 0.03% gain at 1.53106, the Pound to Australian Dollar exchange rate drop 0.59% to 1.66615 and the Pound to New Zealand Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.90247 GBP/NZD, -1.04% on the day.

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TAGS: Currency Predictions New Zealand Dollar Forecasts Pound Ne Forecasts