Latest Currency News Continued - page 527

Currency market focus settled firmly on Australia during the overnight session, with the Antipodean nation’s Reserve Bank making its latest policy announcement. The Australian Dollar was well supported in the aftermath of the RBA’s announcement that it would be maintaining its Official Cash Rate at its current level of 2.50%. As expected, it wasn’t the decision which proved to be market moving, but comments from Reserve...

The Canadian Dollar (currency:CAD) was the big winner in the global currency markets yesterday afternoon following the publication of stronger than anticipated Gross Domestic Product growth data in Canada. January’s monthly increase of 0.5% in output from the export-driven Canadian economy cancelled out December’s drop of 0.5% in activity levels, suggesting that economic conditions are improving in the North American economy...

The EURO (currency:EUR) suffered a blow earlier today when official figures revealed that the level of inflation in the eurozone tumbled to 0.5% this month – down from February’s 0.7% reading. The news increases the chances that the European Central Bank will announce a further easing of its monetary policy on Thursday – a move which would hit the single currency hard. In the meantime, tomorrow morning’s German...

Dual structural deficits at the heart of British economy threaten to hamper the Pound Sterling’s performance as we head into the second quarter of 2014. The UK Office of National statistics published worrying figures on Friday which revealed that Britain’s trade deficit during the final three months of 2013 was running at a higher than anticipated level of £22.4bn. The print was only slightly lower than the UK’s record...

The POUND STERLING (currency:GBP) has staged a concerted comeback against the other major global currencies during the latter part of this week. Yesterday’s highly positive British Retail Sales data helped support the Pound and the Confederation of British Industry’s overnight assessment that the UK economy is still experiencing above average growth has provided further succour for Sterling. Pound Sterling exchange rate...

The Euro gave up ground against both the Pound (EUR/GBP) and the US Dollar (EUR/USD) during yesterday’s session in the currency market, sending the Pound euro exchange rate up to close to the 1.2100 GBP/EUR threshold, while the euro Dollar exchange rate dipped to 1.3729 EUR/USD during afternoon trading. Some of the weakness for the single currency during the session was driven by the announcement from the International...

Sterling has enjoyed strong support so far today thanks to a stronger than anticipated set of UK Retail Sales numbers for last month. The closely-watched data release revealed that British shop sales were up by 4.2% from February 2013 – massively above economists’ expectations of a 2.9% print. The figure provided further encouragement regarding the strength of the UK’s ongoing economic recovery and bode well for the hotly...

Yesterday’s European session brought a keynote announcement from the Bank of England which is likely to see the Pound Sterling (currency:GBP) well supported during coming months. The UK central bank announced that it has agreed an accord with the People’s Bank of China which will allow the Chinese Yuan (or Renminbi as it is also known) to be traded through London exchanges. The memorandum of understanding, which will last...

The Australian Dollar has well and truly poked its head above the parapet during today’s trading session. The Pound Aussie exchange rate has slumped to a fresh 3 ½ month low at 1.7897 GBP/AUD this afternoon, while the Australian Dollar US Dollar exchange rate has spiralled to 0.9246 AUD/USD. The Aussie has not been as strong as this against the Buck since 22nd November and it is a cent and a quarter above yesterday’s opening...

Highlights for today’s session in the global currency market include this afternoon’s US Durable Goods Orders data and this evening’s February Trade Balance numbers in New Zealand. Both the Greenback and the Kiwi Dollar have edged forward against the Pound over the past two weeks, sending the Pound US Dollar and Pound New Zealand Dollar exchange rates down towards the 1.6300 GBP/USD and 1.9000 GBP/NZD thresholds...