Dollar to Pound Forecast: Latest USD/GBP Exchange Rate Outlook and Conversion

Modified: Tuesday, 23 December 2014 11:42 BST - Written by John Cameron

STORY LINK Dollar to Pound Forecast: Latest USD/GBP Exchange Rate Outlook and Conversion

Movement Forecast in Global Currency Markets

Thin trading volumes in the global currency markets as Christmas week commences haven’t stopped movement for some of the world’s leading currency pairs today. Analysts forecast that comments from policymakers and movement in the global commodity and share markets may alter the relative value of several leading tenders versus the Pound Sterling (currency:GBP) as we rapidly head towards 2015.

Saudi Oil Comments Alter Market

Comments from Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi earlier today have served to prop up the price of a barrel of crude oil during early trading today. Al-Naimi predicted that the oil price will recover, causing Brent Crude to track higher to almost $63 during the early part of the European equities session. ‘Black Gold’ had been changing hands at well below the $60 threshold during the final stretch of last week, so the move stoked market whispers that global oil prices have now bottomed out.

US Dollar Held Back by Oil Price Increase

The news has prompted the US Dollar (currency:USD) to weaken against a trade-weighted basket of other currencies today for the first time in the last four sessions. However, the Pound Sterling US Dollar exchange rate has faltered somewhat in spite of the softening of the Buck. The reason for this move lower has been triggered by a disappointing performance by the Pound; Sterling has struggled to trade into positive territory against any of the other sixteen most-actively traded global tenders. Analysts are looking to tomorrow morning’s finalised version of the Q3 Gross Domestic Product data from the UK to lend the British unit direction during the final week of the year.

Australian Dollar improves

Elsewhere; Asian stock markets have not missed out on the improvement in investor sentiment since the markets re-opened on Sunday night UK time. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index gained 1.26% during last night’s Asian session, while Sydney’s ASX All Ordinaries climbed by almost 2.0% as investors responded well to the slight uptick in global commodities prices. The upshot has seen the export-driven Australian Dollar continue its recovery against the Pound following last week’s break to a multi-year high for the GBP AUD exchange rate. The pair has traded down to as low as 1.9122 earlier on and further losses are forecast.

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