Yesterday proved a good day for the Pound in the foreign exchange market as it gained strength against the Euro and the US Dollar. The GBP/EUR rate opened the day at a low of 1.1669 and strengthened across the day, hitting a daily high of 1.1757 before closing out at 1.1753. The GBP/USD rate opened the day at 1.5106 but dropped below the 1.51 level just after the open of the markets; it did however strengthen across the morning, hitting a daily high of 1.5144 before closing out at 1.5113. The US Dollar also saw losses against the Euro with the EUR/USD rate opening the day at 1.2945 and closing out at 1.2858.
Yesterday morning we saw UK CPI (inflation) come out at 2.8%, as expected but higher than the 2.0% target level set by the Bank of England. Regarding the current situation in Cyprus the political leaders are meeting for emergency talks after they rejected the international bailout deal put forward by the ECB. The plans to charge a one-off tax on savings failed to attract the necessary support and if a bailout deal is not agreed there are fears banks could remain closed as if they are opened there could be a high risk of a bank run.
The main news for today will be focused around the 2013 Budget which George Osborne will release around midday; before this we will see UK jobless claims change for February and the unemployment rate for the three months leading up to January. The jobless claims are expected to fall by 5K and the unemployment rate is expected to remain at 7.8%.
This afternoon will see the release of the FOMC’s decision on whether or not to keep the base interest rate at the current level of 0.25% and no change is expected.
This Daily Market Update is brought to you by The Market Team @ KBRFX – Exchange Rate, Currency Conversion & Foreign Currency Transfer specialists.
Last week in the foreign exchange market we saw the Pound finally gain some strength against the Euro and the US Dollar. The GBPEUR rate opened the week at 1.1483 and dropped to a weekly low of 1.1371 mid-week before it strengthened over the back end of the week, hitting 1.1624 before closing out the week at 1.1583. The GBPUSD rate opened the week at 1.4936 and like the previous rate it hit a weekly low of 1.4831 mid-week before closing out the week at 1.5131. It was a quiet week for data release from the UK with the main piece of data being industrial and manufacturing production which both fell by 2.9% and 3.0% respectively.
The US Dollar also weakened against the Euro last week with the EURUSD rate opening at 1.3008 and closing out at 1.3059. The main news from the Eurozone last week was their CPI (inflation) result which increased by 1.8% as expected. US retail sales came out of the US last week better than expected at 1.1%. The US CPI data also was released with the figure coming out slightly higher than expected at 2.0%.
Over the weekend we had some significant news come out of Cyprus where, due to an EU bailout deal, bank customers have to pay a levy of up to 9.9% on their savings. Savers with up to €100K in their bank will be charged a one-off amount of 9.9% of the amount in their account and those with under €100K will see a 6.7% charge implemented; this deal is expected to raise nearly €6Bn for Cyprus.
This week is an important week for the UK as the Chancellor, George Osborne will present the 2013 Budget to Parliament on Wednesday. We will also see UK jobless claims change and the unemployment rate be released with the rate for the 3 months up to January expected to remain at 7.8%.
On Wednesday the FED’s FOMC will also meet and decide whether or not they want to change their base interest rate with no change expected; staying at 0.25%.
This Daily Market Update is brought to you by The Market Team @ KBRFX – Exchange Rate, Currency Conversion & Foreign Currency Transfer specialists.
Yesterday in the foreign exchange market the Pound saw some losses against the Euro but some gains versus the US Dollar. The GBPEUR rate opened the day at 1.1680 and closed out at 1.1646 showing not a great deal of movement yesterday. The GBPUSD rate opened the day at 1.5094 and hit a daily high of 1.5144 early in the morning before it weakened slightly across the day, closing out at 1.5112. We also saw some gains in the Euro against the US Dollar yesterday with the EURUSD rate opening at 1.2922 and closing out at 1.2975.
Yesterday was a quiet day for data release with only Rightmove house prices being released which saw an increase of 1.2%.
Today we have already seen CPI (inflation) for Feb with the figure increasing by 2.8%, more than the Bank of England's target rate of 2.0%. Later today Cyprus' Parliament will vote on the Deposit Levy for the EU bail out.
This Daily Market Update is brought to you by The Market Team @ KBRFX – Exchange Rate, Currency Conversion & Foreign Currency Transfer specialists.
