UK Asset Climbs on Unjustified Declination, Euro Softens on Questionable Greek Deal and US Dollar Holds Steady on Mixed Data

Published: 13 Aug at 2 PM Tags: Euro, Dollar, Pound Sterling, America, UK, Eurozone, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, China, Germany, Greece,

Pound Sterling (GBP)
The British Pound dived versus its peers on Wednesday in response to the second consecutive month of rising unemployment. However, Sterling recovered losses during Thursday’s European session amid speculation that the downtrend was unjustified; especially given that wage growth still showed promising acceleration. Also aiding the Pound’s appreciation was a better-than-expected result from the RICS House Price Balance.

Euro (EUR)
Having surged on Wednesday in response to easing tensions regarding Greece, the single currency softened on Thursday. The depreciation can be linked to fears that the deal agreed between Greek officials and Eurozone and creditor representatives is significantly flawed. The deal, for example, has no inclusion of any form of debt restructure. In addition, there is mounting speculation that Germany will not accept the terms of the deal as officials have already expressed concerns that the reforms won’t be implemented quickly.

US Dollar (USD)
Thursday’s US economic data produced mixed results which have seen the US asset trading relatively statically against its major peers. Whilst Advance Retail Sales met with the median market forecast, Continuing Claims and Initial Jobless Claims both saw unwanted growth. A fractional US Dollar uptrend can be linked to easing concerns regarding the Chinese Yuan devaluation as the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) look to stabilise the domestic asset.

Australian Dollar (AUD)
With market sentiment rocky amid uncertainties surrounding the Greek bailout deal and China’s economic slowdown, the Australian Dollar softened versus its major rivals. In addition, tanking iron ore prices weighed on demand for the risk-correlated Oceanic currency.

New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
As well as the Australian Dollar, damp market sentiment weighed on demand for the New Zealand Dollar. Improvement to the Performance of Manufacturing Index wasn’t enough to alleviate concerns regarding geopolitical unknowns. Also adding to the ‘Kiwi’ (NZD) headwind is falling dairy prices.

Canadian Dollar (CAD)
With crude oil prices remaining low, and with China’s economic slowdown seeing cooling demand for commodity-correlated currencies, the ‘Loonie’ (CAD) softened versus many of its currency rivals. A positive result from the New Housing Price Index wasn’t enough to provoke a Canadian Dollar recovery.

As of Thursday, 13th August 2015, the Pound Sterling currency rates mentioned within this news item were as follows:

GBP EUR exchange rate was 1.3994, GBP USD exchange rate was 1.5611, GBP AUD exchange rate was 2.1196, GBP NZD exchange rate was 2.3789, GBP CAD exchange rate was 2.0399, and GBP CNY exchange rate was 9.9891.

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