Foreign Exchange Daily Market Update 28/03/12

The Pound gained slightly against the US Dollar yesterday, but declined fractionaly against the Euro in the foreign exchange market. The GBP/EUR exchange rate picked up from 1.1977 at the morning’s open to trade in an open range from the day low of 1.1942 and the high of 1.1996, before trading back to 1.1975 by the close of the UK business day. The GBP/USD exchange rate picked up from 1.5968 to trade down to the day’s high of 1.56001 before trading back towards 1.5971 by the European market close. The Pound also gained against the Australian Dollar and against the New Zealand Dollar in the foreign exchange market yesterday. The GBP/NZD exchange rate picked up from 1.9369 at the morning’s open to trade up towards 1.9440 by the close of the UK business day. The GBP/AUD exchange rate opened up from 1.5160 and finished the session higher at 1.5218.

On the economic data front we had the UK CBI Reported sales for the month of March come in better than expected at 0 vs. -5 and up from -2 from the prior month.

This morning we will look out for the Gross Domestic Product year-on-year due at 09:30 GMT, where economists are expecting no change at 0.7%.

The Euro declined against the US dollar, but gained fractionally against the Pound in the currency exchange market yesterday. The EUR/USD exchange opened up at 1.3346 and traded in an open range between 1.3317 and 1.3385, before trading back towards the 1.3336 level by the European market close.

Yesterday from the Euro-zone we had the German GfK Consumer Confidence Survey (APR) come in slightly off the expected figure of 6.0 at 5.9. German Import Price Index also came in better than expected on the month-on-month figure at 1.0% vs. 0.9%, however overall Import Price Index was down from the prior month of 1.3%. Finally French Consumer Confidence Indicator came in much better than expected increasing from 82 to 87.

This morning we have already seen the release of the French GDP figures, with the year-on-year figure just missing expectations at 1.3% vs. 1.4%. We also had the release of the Italian Business Confidence (Mar) which increased from 91.7 to 92.1 and Euro-Zone M3 s.a. (Feb) which come in much better than expected at 2.8% vs 2.4% on the year-on-year figure.

Later today we will see the release of German Consumer Price Index (Mar) due at 13:00 GMT where economists are expecting a slight decline from 2.3% to 2.2%.

The US Dollar declined against the Pound, but managed to gain against the Euro currencies yesterday. On the economic data front we had seen a slight improvement in the S&P Case Shiller 20 City s.a. (Jan) coming in at -0.04% vs. -0.30% expected by economists. US Consumer Confidence also came in better than expected at 70.2 vs. 70 however the figure was still down from the previous 71.6.

Today from the US we have the release MBA Mortgage Applications (Mar 23) due at 12:00 GMT followed by Durable Goods Orders (FeB) due at 13:30 GMT.

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