ZAR Climbs, EUR Falters, GBP Recovers, AUD Rebounds

Published: 26 Mar at 12 PM 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 in the Region of 1.6542
Pound movement was a little stilted ahead of the publication of UK retail sales figures, but the British asset was able to edge slightly higher after Bank of England official Martin Weale confirmed that interest rates would be raised to more normal levels as the nation’s economy recovers.

US Dollar
USD/GBP – Trading in the Region of 0.6051
Yesterday’s impressive increase in US consumer confidence supported the US Dollar and global developments helped the ‘Greenback’ advance on the Euro. However, if today’s US durable goods orders report doesn’t show the expected rebound the US Dollar could come under pressure.

Euro
EUR/USD – Trading in the Region of 1.3799
Yesterday’s dovish comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi wore on the Euro and the common currency softened against both the US Dollar and Pound. Today’s German consumer sentiment report had little impact.

Australian Dollar
AUD/USD – Trading in the Region of 0.9227
‘Aussie’ gains were aided as Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens painted a rosy picture of Australia’s economic future during a speech in Hong Kong. Stevens also refrained from explicitly talking down the Australian Dollar, which boosted the currency’s advance.

New Zealand Dollar
NZD/USD – Trading in the Region of 0.8608
Although New Zealand’s Finance Minister warned that the ‘Kiwi’s exchange rate is a little high, the New Zealand Dollar held recent gains overnight and closed the local session in a strong position against peers like the Pound and ‘Greenback’.

Canadian Dollar
CAD/USD – Trading in the Region of 0.8974
For the whole of this week Canadian data is lacking. Consequently, global developments have been largely responsible for dictating ‘Loonie’ movement. The commodity-driven currency came under pressure yesterday as bets against the Canadian Dollar increased.

Japanese Yen
USD/JPY – Trading in the Region of 102.3500
The safe-haven Yen experienced limited demand overnight and softened against several of its higher-risk counterparts. Japanese corporate service price data showed a 0.7 per cent annual gain in February, less than the 0.8 per cent year-on-year advance economists had expected.

South African Rand
USD/ZAR – Trading in the Region of 10.7294
During European trading the Rand was close to a one-week high against the US Dollar. Tomorrow’s South African Reserve Bank rate decision could trigger extensive volatility in the currency if the central bank takes surprising action.
As of Wednesday, 26th March 2014, the Pound Sterling currency rates mentioned within this news item were as follows:

GBP EUR exchange rate was 1.2026, GBP USD exchange rate was 1.6577, GBP AUD exchange rate was 1.7977, GBP NZD exchange rate was 1.9272, GBP CAD exchange rate was 1.8399, GBP JPY exchange rate was 168.9313, and GBP ZAR exchange rate was 17.7187.

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