Foreign Exchange Daily Market Update 24/02/12

The Pound a touch higher against the US Dollar and slightly lower against the Euro in the foreign exchange market yesterday. The GBP/EUR exchange rate picked up from 1.1798 at the morning’s open to trade up to the day’s high of 1.1827, before trading back to 1.1794 by the close of the UK business day. The GBP/USD exchange rate picked up from 1.5695 to trade down to the day’s high of 1.5731 before trading back to 1.5698 by the European market close. The Pound also finished lower against the New Zealand Dollar and but gained slightly against the Australian Dollar in the foreign exchange market. The GBP/NZD exchange rate picked up from 1.8842 at the morning’s open to trade down to 1.8832 by the close of the UK business day. The GBP/AUD exchange rate opened up from 1.4672 and finished the session higer at 1.4685.

Yesterday from the UK we had seen BBA Loans For House Purchases showed an improvement from 36,553 to 38,092, along with the CBI Trends Total Orders (Feb) increasing from 100.9 previously to 102.3. Today from the UK we will look out for the 09:30 GMT Gross Domestic Product year-on-year, where economists are expecting no change at 0.8%. We will also keep an eye of the GDP components also due at 09:30 GMT.

The Euro gained against the pound and against the US Dollar in the currency exchange market yesterday. The EUR/USD exchange opened up at 1.3296 to trade up to the day high of 1.3342 before closing out at 1.3308 by the European market close. Yesterday we some economic data from the Euro-zone; with German IFO – Business Climate (Feb) increasing from 108.3 to 109.6 and German IFO Expectations (Feb) came in at 102.3 versus 100.9 previously. Italian Consumer Confidence Indicator also showed improvement increasing from 91.8 to 94.2.

This morning we have seen the release of German Gross Domestic Product n.s.a which came in line with expectations of 1.5% for the year-on-year number and GDP w.d.a. came in at 2.0%.we have no further economic data scheduled from the Euro-zone today.

The US Dollar declined slightly against the Pound and against the Euro currencies yesterday. We had some positive economic data from the US yesterday; with Continuing Claims for the week of Feb18 declined from 3444k to 3392k and initial jobless claims came in better than expected at 351k vs. 355k expected by economists. Also the House Price Index month-on-month showed no change from the prior month of 0.7% but the came in better than the 0.4% expected by economist.

Today we will look out for the US University of Michigan Confidence (Feb) due at 14:55 GMT, which is expected to increase slightly from 72.5 to 72.8 by economists. Also we will keep an eye on the 15:00 GMT New Home Sales for the month of January which is expected to show an improvement from 307k to 315k.

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