Pound Sterling
The Pound weakened against the Euro and other peers after Bank of England Chief Economist Spencer Dale said that interest rates will stay low for the foreseeable future. The currency was also under pressure as speculation increased that Sterling’s recent run of gains has been overdone. Positive house price and construction output data was unable to support the currency and as result it made a second consecutive weekly decline and fell for a third day against the US Dollar.
Currently the Pound is trading in the region of 1.1855 against the Euro and 1.6274 against the US Dollar.
US Dollar
The ‘Greenback’ managed to firm against the Euro and make a third day of gains against the Pound as speculation mounts that the Federal Reserve will choose to taper its monetary easing programme at next week’s policy meeting.
Currently the US Dollar is trading in the region of 0.6144 against the Pound and 0.7285 against the Euro.
The Euro
The Euro edged higher against the Pound to trade in the 84 pence region as investors claimed that the UK currency’s recent rapid rise was overdone. The Euro remained supported as expectations that the European Central Bank will not introduce further monetary easing or negative rates. Next week looks set to be volatile for the Euro due to the release of a number of major data releases and as the market winds down for the Christmas holidays.
Currently the Euro is trading in the region of 0.8434 against the Pound and 1.3726 against the US Dollar.
Australian Dollar
The ‘Aussie’ is made its longest run of weekly declines in 28 years as the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia; Glenn Stevens intensified his efforts to talk down the ‘Aussie’. Mr Stevens said that a weaker currency was preferable over lower interest rates. The currency fell below the 90 cents mark against the US Dollar and remained close to four year lows against the Euro and Pound Sterling.
Currently the Australian Dollar is trading in the region of 0.5499 against the Pound, 0.6521 against the Euro and 0.8953 against the US Dollar.
Canadian Dollar
The Canadian Dollar fell for a second day against the majority of its peers after Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said that interest rates will not be changed for ‘quite some time’. Against the US Dollar the currency was at a three-year low and remained close to mulit-year lows against the Euro and Pound.
Currently the Canadian Dollar is trading in the region of 0.5787 against the Pound, 0.6863 against the Euro and 0.9423 against the US Dollar.
