Today's Exchange Rate News: USD/JPY Stronger, GBP/USD Weaker

Published: 13 May at 10 AM Tags: Euro, Dollar, Pound Sterling, America, UK, Eurozone, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa,

Pound Sterling
GBP/USD – Trading Lower, 1.5367
With UK news thin on the ground today the Pound retained losses against the US Dollar as European markets opened. Sterling is currently trading in the region of a two-week low against the ‘Greenback’ but is likely to experience volatility in the days ahead following tomorrow’s house price balance data and Wednesday’s unemployment figures.

US Dollar
USD/JPY – Trading Higher, 101.5200
After pushing above ¥100 last week the US Dollar’s bullish relationship with its Asian peer continued, with the ‘Greenback’ surging to ¥102 in the aftermath of the G-7 gathering. And with Treasury 10-year yields reaching an almost seven-week high the US Dollar went on to record gains against most of its other main competitors. The most significant piece of economic news on the calendar today is advance US retail sales data.

Euro
EUR/USD – Trading Lower, 1.2973
Ahead of today’s gathering of Eurozone Finance Ministers in Brussels the Euro was little changed against the US Dollar after falling below 1.30 at the close of last week. Today’s US retail sales figures will be of interest, but tomorrow’s German ZEW sentiment survey could also be a notable cause of Euro movement.

Australian Dollar
AUD/USD – Trading Lower, 0.9999
The Australian Dollar tumbled close to an 11-month low against its American counterpart as domestic and foreign economic news took its toll on the currency. While China’s industrial production data failed to live up to expectations, Australian business confidence also declined and Barclays Plc cut its forecast for the ‘Aussie’.

New Zealand Dollar
NZD/USD – Trading Lower, 0.8302
The New Zealand Dollar extended its decline against its US counterpart during local trade ahead of the publications of New Zealand’s first quarter retail sales data. Economists have estimated a 0.8 per cent gain for the first three months of this year, following on from a fourth quarter advance of 2.1 per cent. An unexpected result is likely to inspire ‘Kiwi’ fluctuations.

Canadian Dollar
CAD/USD – Trading Lower, 0.9886
Although Friday’s Canadian employment figure only just missed estimates for a 15,000 gain, the result caused the ‘Loonie’ to lose ground against its American counterpart. An absence of Canadian economic news will limit the commodity-driven currency’s movement in the hours ahead, but some volatility could occur following the publication of US retail sales data.

Japanese Yen
JPY/USD – Trading Lower 101.5200
With the G-7 sanctioning the recent declines in the Japanese Yen the currency was able to continue falling against the US Dollar, briefly weakening to 102. Economists expect the Yen to keep softening as the week continues.

South Africa Rand
ZAR/USD – Trading Lower, 9.1108
As investors reacted to the alterations made to the Amplats restructuring plan the Rand weakened against a broadly bullish US Dollar. The big piece of South African economic news to watch out for this week is the nation’s retail sales data, due for publication on Wednesday.

As of Monday, 13th May 2013, the Pound Sterling currency rates mentioned within this news item were as follows:

GBP EUR exchange rate was 1.1788, GBP USD exchange rate was 1.53, GBP AUD exchange rate was 1.5369, GBP NZD exchange rate was 1.8555, GBP CAD exchange rate was 1.5462, GBP CNY exchange rate was 9.4044, GBP JPY exchange rate was 155.7586, and GBP ZAR exchange rate was 14.0171.

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