Daily Currency News for GBP, EUR, USD - ECB Rate Decision Ahead

Published: 20 Oct at 10 AM Tags: Euro, Dollar, Pound Sterling, America, UK, Eurozone, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada,

Sterling
The Pound (GBP) was largely able to hold its ground against the other majors yesterday as high employment data prevented Sterling from ceding gains from Tuesday’s High Court ruling.
UK unemployment data remained at 4.9% - the lowest rate in a decade - as 106,000 Britons joined the workforce. While The Pound was strengthened by the news, analysts warned that pay growth was unlikely to keep up with inflation, as the low value of Sterling is likely to raise consumer prices in 2017.

Euro
The GBP EUR exchange rate reached its highest levels since the Sterling flash crash yesterday as UK Chancellor Philip Hammond lead the charge for a softer exit from the EU as he said that the government would push for the best deal over access to the single market and that he would seek to protect the rights of highly-skilled foreign workers in the UK.
The European Central Bank will hold October’s monetary policy meeting later today. Although the ECB is not expected to make any major changes, there has been some recent speculation that President Mario Draghi may announce an early end to its quantitative easing programme in light of the recent uptick in inflation.

US Dollar
‘Cable’ managed to briefly break the 1.23 exchange rate barrier yesterday but quickly sank again as ‘Brexit’ anxiety dragged on the Pound.
UK retail sales data will be released later this morning and are expected to show a rise to 0.2%, up from -0.3% in August. A better than expected upturn could allow the Pound to recoup some of yesterday evening’s loses, but ‘Brexit’ sentiment could once again cause Sterling to largely ignore the data.
The US will also release some employment data today, which traders will be hoping bucks the recent trend of disappointing US ecostats and help the US Dollar (USD) recover its recent loses.

Canadian Dollar
The Pound Canadian Dollar (CAD) exchange rate traded fairly flatly yesterday, ending the day close to where it began as the Bank of Canada voted to keep interest rates at 0.5%. The oil driven ‘Loonie’ did spike at one point as crude prices rose following a drop in US stocks, but the jump quickly corrected itself.

Australian Dollar
The Pound plummeted by around a cent against the Australian Dollar (AUD), reaching a new three-year low yesterday, as rising oil prices caused trader risk appetite to increase, although the Pound managed to recover most of its loses early this morning.
The commodity-correlated ‘Aussie’ continues to strengthen as stubbornly high trade prices and a reasonably stable US Dollar help drive demand.

New Zealand Dollar
GBP NZD hit a new historic low earlier this morning as the New Zealand Dollar was bolstered by demand for high-yield currencies and the recent uptick in dairy prices.

As of Thursday, 20th October 2016, the Pound Sterling currency rates mentioned within this news item were as follows:

GBP EUR exchange rate was 1.1215, GBP USD exchange rate was 1.2255, GBP AUD exchange rate was 1.6067, GBP NZD exchange rate was 1.7043, and GBP CAD exchange rate was 1.621.

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