Exchange Rate News: EUR/USD Close To Two-Year High, GBP/EUR Recovers Ground

Published: 24 Oct at 10 AM Tags: Euro, Dollar, Pound Sterling, America, UK, Eurozone, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, China, Japan, South Africa,

Pound Sterling
GBP/EUR – Trading in the Region of 1.1737
As the European session opened the Pound was trading in the region of a three-week high against the US Dollar and was holding steady against the Euro. While investors will be looking ahead to this evening’s speech from Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, today’s UK business optimism report could also inspire Sterling movement.

US Dollar
USD/EUR – Trading in the Region of 0.7255
Lacklustre mortgage application and house price data left the US Dollar languishing against the majority of its most traded rivals. If today’s US initial jobless claims report shows an increase in applications for unemployment benefit (compounding the negative impact of the Federal shutdown) the ‘Buck’ could post further losses in the hours ahead.
Euro
EUR/USD – Trading in the Region of 1.3774
The Euro hit a two-year high against a broadly softening US Dollar yesterday and was little changed as the European session began. However, the common currency could fluctuate in the hours ahead as a result of a mixed bag of PMI data for the Eurozone.

Australian Dollar
AUD/USD – Trading in the Region 0.9656
As the falling odds of the Federal Reserve tapering stimulus pushed investors towards higher-risk assets the ‘Aussie’ rallied. The Australian Dollar went on to consolidate and extend gains as China’s manufacturing PMI came in above the level expected, boosting Australia’s trade prospects.

New Zealand Dollar
NZD/USD – Trading in the Region of 0.8384
The ‘Kiwi’ strengthened against peers like the US Dollar, Pound and Euro before the close of Australasian trading as New Zealand’s export data beat expectations and China’s manufacturing sector expanded by more than anticipated.

Canadian Dollar
CAD/USD – Trading in the Region of 0.9631
After the Bank of Canada’s policy statement, which took a slightly different slant than economists forecast, the ‘Loonie’ slumped by the most for four-months against the US Dollar. The commodity-driven currency could fluctuate in response to US data today.

Japanese Yen
USD/JPY – Trading in the Region of 97.3700
While the Yen extended declines against a broadly strengthening Euro during Asian trading, the safe-haven asset maintained a bullish relationship with the ‘Greenback’ ahead of the publication of US initial jobless claims data.

South African Rand
USD/ZAR – Trading in the Region of 9.7822
Although the Rand experienced fluctuations in the aftermath of the release of domestic inflation data and the delivery of South Africa’s budget report, the emerging-market asset began Thursday’s trading session stronger against the US Dollar having garnered support from Chinese manufacturing data and the declining odds of the Federal Reserve tapering stimulus.
As of Thursday, 24th October 2013, the Pound Sterling currency rates mentioned within this news item were as follows:

GBP EUR exchange rate was 1.1739, GBP USD exchange rate was 1.6198, GBP AUD exchange rate was 1.6841, GBP NZD exchange rate was 1.9429, GBP CAD exchange rate was 1.6877, GBP CNY exchange rate was 9.8516, GBP JPY exchange rate was 157.7389, and GBP ZAR exchange rate was 15.7997.

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