Foreign Exchange Daily Market Update 16/04/12

The Pound closed lower last week against the US Dollar and against the Euro in the foreign exchange market. The GBP/EUR exchange traded in a fairly open range last week, with the pair opening up at 1.2138 and traded in between the week high of 1.2154 and low of 1.2078, before closing the week at 1.2114. The GBP/USD exchange rate gained across the course of the week and erased its gains on Friday, starting from Monday’s open at 1.5873, we saw the pair trade to a week high of 1.5984 before finishing the week around the 1.5851 level. The Pound also declined against the Australian dollar and against the New Zealand Dollar in the foreign exchange market last week. The GBP/NZD exchange rate picked up from 1.9397, to trade lower at 1.9223 by the close of the week. The GBP/AUD exchange rate opened up from 1.5427 and finished the week lower at 1.5280.

The week ahead will see some key economic data released from the UK. The first significant data to look out for will be released Tuesday with the Consumer Price Index (Mar) due at 09:30 GMT, where economists are expecting the figure to be unchanged at 3.4%. During the week on Wednesday we have the Jobless Claims Change (Mar) due at 09:30 GMT where economists are expecting a decline from 7.2k to 6.0k. Finally to end the week we have the release of Retail Sales (Mar) due at 09:30 GMT on Friday.

This morning we have no scheduled data from the UK today.

The Euro gained against the US Dollar and against the Pound throughout last week in the currency exchange market. The EUR/USD rate picked up from 1.3076 at Monday’s open, to trade down to a week high of 1.3212 before trading back to 1.3083 by the close of the European trading session on Friday.

The main market focus for the week ahead in Europe will begin on Tuesday, with the release of Euro-zone Consumer Price Index year-on-year (Mar) due at 10:00 GMT. Economists are expecting a slight decline from 2.7% to 2.6% for the year-on-year core figure. Also to follow at 10:00 GMT economists expect a decline from 22.3 to 19.00 for the German ZEW Survey. To end the week we have German Producer Price Index (Mar) due at 07:00 GMT on Friday, where economists expect a decline from 3.2% to 3.1% for the year-on-year figure and unchanged at 0.4% for the month-on-month.

This morning we will look out for the Euro-zone Trade Balance due at 10:00 GMT.

The US Dollar declined against the Euro, but managed to gain against the Pound in the currency markets last weeks. This week’s key events to look out for will be today’s Advance Retail Sales (Mar), where economists are predicting a decline from 1.1% to 0.3%, followed by Business Inventories at 15:00 GMT. On Tuesday we will look out for the US Building Permits due at 13:30 GMT and Industrial Production at 14:15 GMT. To end the week will look out for the Initial and Continuing jobless claims on Thursday due at 13:30 GMT and the G-20 meeting of finance ministers in Washington due at 14:00 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.