Yesterday in the foreign exchange market we saw the Pound gain ground against the Euro and the US Dollar. The GBPEUR rate opened the day at a daily low of 1.1646 and strengthened until it closed out at a daily high of 1.1703. The GBPUSD rate followed a similar pattern, opening at a daily low of 1.5218 and closing out at a daily high of 1.5269. The Dollar also saw losses against the Euro with the EURUSD rate opening the day at 1.3068 and closing out at 1.3048.
It was a quiet day for data release yesterday with the main figure being Eurozone consumer confidence. It was expected to come out at -24 but came out slightly better at -22.3. US existing home sales for March came out better than expected, falling by 0.6% compared to the previous month.
There is expected to be a lot more data coming out today, we have already seen German and French PMI data be released. German PMI for services came out at 49.2 and for manufacturing, 47.9, both figures worse than expected. French PMI for services and manufacturing came out at 44.1 and 44.4 respectively, better than predicted. Eurozone PMI for services and manufacturing has just been released, at 46.6 and 46.5 respectively showing an expected deterioration in business conditions.
This Daily Market Update is brought to you by The Market Team @ KBRFX – Exchange Rate, Currency Conversion & Foreign Currency Transfer specialists.
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.
