Pound Euro Exchange Rate (GBP/EUR) Tumbles As Ireland?s GDP Increases

Published: Friday, 20 September 2013 09:30 BST - Written by Minesh Chaudhari

STORY LINK Pound Euro Exchange Rate (GBP/EUR) Tumbles As Ireland?s GDP Increases

US stock markets fell yesterday sending the Pound Dollar exchange rate (GBP/USD) lower. Meanwhile, the euro posted decent gains as investors reacted to the news that Ireland’s economy has returned to growth.

The Pound to Euro exchange rate (GBP/EUR) is currently trading down by 0.78% at 1.1848 GBP/EUR. The Euro to Pound exchange rate is currently trading at 0.8440 EUR/GBP.

The surge in US equities market which Wednesday evening’s surprise decision by the US Federal Reserve not to trim its controversial Quantitative Easing programme proved short-lived, with the broad-ranging S&P 500 index closing down on the session last night. The larger cap headline Dow Jones index of 40 leading American shares gave up a slightly larger amount on the day.

Share traders’ euphoria at the Fed’s failure to call a halt to the days of easy money was overshadowed by the news that giant US investment bank JP Morgan is set to pay American regulators a total of $920m by way of punishment for hiding trading losses from the authorities. The massive payout is the fourth biggest in history and the announcement helped take the edge off investors’ appetite for risk throughout yesterday’s North American session.

Elsewhere, the euro had a fairly good day of it yesterday, registering gains against Sterling which sent the Pound euro exchange rate (GBP/EUR) down into the 1.1840s during late trading. Support for the single currency was bolstered by the news that one-time debt struggler the Republic of Ireland, has returned to economic growth. The latest official government figures showed that economic activity in Ireland had increased by 0.4% during the three months to the end of June. Analysts had been expecting a little more, but the euro still enjoyed a relatively positive day as investors expressed their relief that the eurozone’ debt crisis appears to be abating. The next test for the single currency comes on Sunday with Germany’s federal election.

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