KBR Foreign Exchange Plc.

The Pound gained slightly against the US Dollar yesterday and declined fractionally against the Euro in the foreign exchange market. The GBP/EUR exchange rate picked up from 1.1989 at the morning’s open to trade in an open range between the day low of 1.1966, and high of 1.2025 before trading back to 1.1987 by the close of the UK business day. The GBP/USD exchange rate picked up from 1.5861 to trade up to the day’s low of 1.5829 before trading back towards 1.5866 by the European market close. But the Pound managed to gain against both the Australian Dollar and the New Zealand Dollar in the foreign exchange market yesterday. The GBP/NZD exchange rate picked up from 1.313 at the morning’s open to trade up towards 1.9415 by the close of the UK business day. The GBP/AUD exchange rate opened up from 1.5054 and finished the session slightly higher at 1.5122.

Yesterday Consumer Price Index from the UK came in slightly higher than expected at 3.4% vs. 3.3%, however the data was lower from 3.6% previously, showing a slight easing on inflation. Retail Price index was also down from 3.9% to 3.7% for the year-on-year (Feb) figure.

Today we will look out for the Bank of England Minutes due at 09:30 GMT, followed by the UK Budget to be presented to Parliament at 12:30 GMT.

The Euro gained slightly against the Pound and against the US Dollar in the currency exchange market yesterday. The EUR/USD exchange opened up at 1.3229 to trade up the high of the day at 1.3252, before trading back towards the 1.3234 level by the European market close.

Yesterday morning we had the German Producer Prices (Feb) year-on-year data come in line with expectations at 3.2%, down from the previous 3.4%. Today we have no further economic data from the Euro-zone.

The US Dollar declined against the Pound and against the Euro currencies yesterday. We had fairly mixed data from the US yesterday, with Building permits increasing from 682k to 717k for the month on February, however Home Starts (Feb) declined from 706k to 698k.

Today we have some economic data from the US, firstly with the MBA Mortgage Applications (Mar 16) due at 11:00 GMT and then followed by Existing Home Sales (Feb) at 14:00 GMT, where economists are expecting an increase from 4.57m to 4.60m.

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