Foreign Exchange Daily Market Update 30/03/12

The Pound declined against the US Dollar again yesterday but managed some gains against the Euro in the foreign exchange market. The GBP/EUR exchange rate picked up from 1.1937 at the morning’s open to trade in a fairly open range from the day low of 1.1928 and the high of 1.1998, before trading up around 1.1993 by the close of the UK business day. The GBP/USD exchange rate picked up from 1.5925 to trade down to the day’s low of 1.5858 before trading back towards 1.5909 by the European market close. The Pound also gained against the New Zealand Dollar and the Australian Dollar in the foreign exchange market yesterday. The GBP/NZD exchange rate picked up from 1.9459 at the morning’s open to trade up towards 1.9554 by the close of the UK business day. The GBP/AUD exchange rate opened up from 1.5330 and finished the session higher at 1.5404.

Yesterday on the economic data front we had seen some negative data from the UK, with Mortgage Approvals coming in at 49.0k versus 57.2k expected by economists and Net Lending missed expectations at 1.2bln vs. 1.4bln. However Net Consumer Credit increased for the month of (Feb) from 0.2bln to 0.4bln.

Today we have no scheduled economic data release from the UK.

The Euro continued to decline against the US dollar and also declined against the Pound in the currency exchange market yesterday. The EUR/USD exchange opened up at 1.3340 and traded in a downtrend towards the day low of 1.3251, before trading back towards 1.3264 by the European market close.

Yesterday from the Euro-zone we had German Unemployment Rate beat expectations with the rate declining from 6.8% to 6.7% and the Unemployment change came in better at -18K versus -10k expected by economists. However Euro-zone Business Climate Indicator came in worse than expected at -0.30 versus -0.16 and Consumer Confidence also declined slightly to 19.1 from -19.

This Morning German Retail Sales came in much better than expected at 1.7% vs. 0.1%, however it was in line with the prior month of 1.7%. French Producer Prices also should improvement increases from 0.7% to 0.8% for the month-on-month figure.

Today we will look out for the Consumer Price Index Estimate (Mar) due at 10:00 GMT, where economists are expecting a decline from 2.7% to 2.5%.

The US Dollar gained against the Pound and the Euro currencies yesterday. On the economic data front we had seen mixed data from the US, with the Gross Domestic Product data coming in line with expectations at 3.0% for the annualised figure. Continuing Claims came in better than expectations at 3340k vs. 3350k, however Initial jobless claims came in slightly higher than expected at 359k vs. 350k and the previous release was revised from 348k to 364k.

Later today we will be looking out for the US Personal Consumption Expenditure Core (Feb) due at 13:00 GMT, where economists are expecting no change at 1.9%. Also we have the Chicago Purchasing Manager (Mar) due at 14:45 GMT, followed by University of Michigan Confidence (Mar) due at 14:55 GMT.

This Daily Market Update is brought to you by The Market Team @ KBRFX – Exchange Rate, Currency Conversion & Foreign Currency Transfer specialists.