The Euro to Pound exchange rate softened on Tuesday, surrendering some of the Euro’s recent gains after a report out of Germany showed that business confidence in the Eurozone’s largest economy fell for the first time in five months on concerns over the crisis in Ukraine.
According to the Ifo institutes business climate index dropped to 110.7 in March, below the previous months figure of 111.3 which was the highest level recorded since the middle of 2011. The fall was worse than economists had forecast as they had expected a figure of 110.9.
The decline was being blamed on the situation in Ukraine and concerns that German businesses that have a presence in Russia will be harmed by the standoff between the West and Russian Federation.
“German growth prospects for 2014 could be harmed if exports to Russia and eastern Europe remain stagnant or if China’s slowdown is confirmed, but looking at growth at the end of 2013 and at the beginning of this year, the indications remain positive for the coming months,” said an economist.
Business leaders in the Eurozone’s largest economy have urged the EU’s politicians to not be too hard and consider the impacts that sanctions against Russia could inflict upon the Eurozone’s weak economic recovery.
The Pound was little impacted by the release of data which showed that inflation in the country fell to its lowest level in four years in February. A separate report showed that UK banks issued fewer mortgages in February than in
January but the amount of lending to buy new homes rose to the highest level in close to two years, suggesting that the UK’s housing market remains buoyant.
Euro (EUR) Exchange Rates
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Euro,
,US Dollar,1.3810 ,
Euro,,British Pound,0.8375 ,
Euro,,Australian Dollar,1.5106 ,
Euro,,Canadian Dollar,1.5468 ,
[/table]
