This week                 (Last week)
GBP/USD – 1.5148      (GBP/USD – 1.5178)

Sterling had a good week against the euro, rising to a two month high of 1.1850 yesterday due to the shocking developments that have occurred in Cyprus over the past week and a half. Sterling did lose ground against the US dollar and struggled against a number of its other peers as several pieces of weak data were released and due to some analysts feeling that sterling had been “overbought” recently. The CBI’s sales report described flat trading volumes throughout March,  the number of new mortgages approved increased by less than expected and yesterday the current account figures showed the trade gap had widened yet again. Today sees the nationwide house price index release with a forecast of another rise of 0.2% and a report on consumer confidence. These will be closely watched this month due to the current situation in the country. There is bank holiday in UK tomorrow and on Monday which brings decreased liquidity to the markets and in turn can lead to over-exaggerated moves in the market. Get in touch today for an up to the second exchange rates and the latest news.

The US dollar had a fairly strong start to the week as risk aversion dominated trading patterns due to the continuing European uncertainty meaning FX investors were buying safe-haven currencies. The US dollar continued to strengthen in spite of new home sales and consumer confidence coming in worse than forecast, whilst the monthly figures for durable goods orders showed a better than expected increase. Yesterday saw the release of pending home sales statistics which came in slightly under forecast and are seen a good indicator of the how the housing market is going to behave over the next few months. Today we see the release of the weekly unemployment claims data and the final GDP reading for the fourth quarter of 2012 which is expected to show modest growth of 0.5%. On Friday the US will release revised consumer sentiment figures and on Monday Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data will give a clear indication of the state of the manufacturing sector in the US. Get in touch for the latest rates.

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GBP/USD – 1.5154 Sterling eased from close to a six week high against the euro and dropped against the US dollar yesterday, as a timely reminder to investors about Britain’s cloudy economic forecast came in the form of the CBI’s sales report. Indeed, the country’s flat retail sector had a noticeable effect with sterling dipping  Continue Reading…

GBP/USD – 1.5172 Yesterday was a mixed day for sterling with gains on some fronts and losses on others. It made further gains against the euro, reaching a six week high of 1.1820 following comments from the head of the Eurogroup of Eurozone finance ministers who suggested that many countries needing a bail out would  Continue Reading…

GBP/USD – 1.5221 Sterling had a mixed day on Friday, falling from its five week high against the euro, as an injection of confidence into the 17 nation currency came as a result of Cyprus moving closer to reaching a bailout agreement. It is a fairly quiet week on the data front in the UK  Continue Reading…

GBP/USD – 1.5178 Sterling has had a good week and for the second week in a row it is at a higher level against the euro and the US dollar than it was at the start. It made gains against the majority of its major counterparts including reaching a five week high of 1.1775 against  Continue Reading…