Foreign Exchange Daily Market Update 19/04/12

The Pound gained and made new highs for the year against both the US Dollar and the Euro yesterday in the foreign exchange market. The GBP/EUR exchange rate picked up from 1.2138 at the morning’s open to trade in a uptrend towards a new high of 1.2232, before trading back around 1.2208 by the close of the UK business day. The GBP/USD exchange rate picked up from 1.5919 to also trade in an uptrend creating a new high of 1.6043, before trading back towards 1.6019 by the European market close. The Pound also gained against both the Australian Dollar and the New Zealand Dollar in the foreign exchange market yesterday. The GBP/NZD exchange rate picked up from 1.9370 at the morning’s open to trade up towards 1.9593 by the close of the UK business day. The GBP/AUD exchange rate opened up from 1.5311 and finished the session lower at 1.5448.

Yesterday we had some important economic data from the UK which caused the pound to spike and continue the trading session to make new high’s for the year. We had Jobless Claims Change for the month of March come in much lower than analysts expected at 3.6k versus 6.0k and the overall figure was down from the prior month of 4.5k. Also the ILO Unemployment Rate (3m) (Feb) declined from 8.4% to 8.3% showing a slight improvement in the Jobs market.

This morning there is no scheduled data from the UK.

The Euro gained slightly against the US dollar but declined against the Pound in the currency exchange market yesterday. The EUR/USD exchange opened up at 1.3115 and traded in a range between 1.3057 and 1.3123, before trading back towards 1.3123 by the European market close.

Yesterday economic data from the Euo-zone was fairly light with the Euro-zone Current Account n.s.a. (Feb) coming in at -€5.9bln vs. (Prev. -€12.3bln, Rev. -€10.1bln) and the Euro-zone Construction Output s.a. (Feb) came in lower at -7.1% compared to the previous month at -0.5% and -12.9% versus -2.7% for the year–on-year figure.

This Morning Italian Industrial Orders NSA (Feb) declined from -5.6% to -13.2% for the year-on-year figure and missed expectations for the month-on-month figure at -2.5% versus -1.1%. In a moment we will be looking out for the Spanish 2year and 10 year Bond Auction due at 09:30 GMT. Followed by Euro-zone Consumer Confidence (Apr) due at 15:00 GMT where economists are expecting a slight improvement from -19.1 to 19.

The US Dollar declined across the board against the Pound and against the Euro currencies yesterday. We had a very light day for economic data from the US with the MBA Mortgage Applications (APR 13) increasing from -2.4% to 6.9%.

Today we have some significant economic data from the US, firstly with the Initial and Continuing Jobless Claims due at 13:30 GMT, followed by US existing Home Sales (Mar), Leading Indicators (Mar), Philadelphia Fed (Apr) all due at 15:00 GMT.

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