Today's Exchange Rate Update: USD Still Bullish, EUR Volatility Ahead

Published: 14 May at 11 AM Tags: Euro, Dollar, Pound Sterling, America, UK, Eurozone, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Germany, Japan, South Africa,

Pound Sterling
GBP/USD – Trading Higher, 1.5312
Yesterday better-than-forecast US retail sales figures caused the ‘Greenback’ to strengthen and pushed the Pound below 1.53 against its American rival. Sterling was able to stage a modest rebound however as a gauge of UK house prices achieved its highest level for nearly three years. The British currency was trading lower against the Euro ahead of the release of two influential pieces of data for the 17 nation currency bloc.

US Dollar
USD/JPY – Trading Lower, 101.4300
Although positive US retail sales data allowed the ‘Greenback’ to strengthen against the majority of its most traded peers during the local session, the US Dollar slipped against the Japanese Yen as fears that the Asian currency’s slide had occurred to rapidly saw it strengthen from a four-month low.

Euro
EUR/USD – Trading Higher, 1.3015
With two pieces of volatile Eurozone data due for publication this morning the Euro was able to climb against several of its main currency rivals. Economists are expecting that both the German economic sentiment survey and Eurozone industrial production figures will show improvement.

Australian Dollar
AUD/USD – Trading Higher, 0.9976
The ‘Aussie’ was able to claw back some of the losses sustained following the release of disappointing Australian business confidence data ahead of the nation’s budget announcement, gaining on the US Dollar and British Pound. The budget is expected to address the issue of stimulating national growth.

New Zealand Dollar
NZD/USD – Trading Higher, 0.8283
Although worse-than-anticipated retail sales figures for New Zealand caused the South Pacific currency to decline during local trade, it later strengthened as Asian stocks climbed. The Australian federal budget, due to be announced at 10:30 GMT, could inspire ‘Kiwi’ movement as the morning progresses.

Canadian Dollar
CAD/USD – Trading Higher, 0.9901
The ‘Loonie’ was boosted yesterday as better-than-estimated retail sales figures improved the economic prospects of Canada’s largest trading partner. The Canadian Dollar was able to push back above 0.99 against the US Dollar, and could strengthen further tomorrow if Canadian existing home sales figures are positive.

Japanese Yen
JPY/USD – Trading Higher 101.4300
Concerns that the Yen’s fall against the US Dollar has occurred too rapidly resulted in the Yen modestly strengthening against its rival. The Asian currency edged away from its recent four-year low of 102 Yen per Dollar.

South Africa Rand
ZAR/USD – Trading Lower, 9.1591
After weakening further against a bullish ‘Greenback’ in the aftermath of positive US retail sales figures the Rand was little changed as the European session opened. As the commodity-driven currency tracks the Euro, news from the Eurozone could cause fluctuations in the hours ahead.

As of Tuesday, 14th May 2013, the Pound Sterling currency rates mentioned within this news item were as follows:

GBP EUR exchange rate was 1.1767, GBP USD exchange rate was 1.5219, GBP AUD exchange rate was 1.5367, GBP NZD exchange rate was 1.8525, GBP CAD exchange rate was 1.55, GBP JPY exchange rate was 155.636, and GBP ZAR exchange rate was 14.0492.

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