Sterling\u00a0had a shaky start to the day yesterday, falling against the US dollar and euro following worse than expected data for\u00a0UK\u00a0services sector activity for December. However, sterling recovered from the early knee-jerk drop as the poor figures were attributed to the prolonged disruption that December\u2019s snow caused in the\u00a0UK. As a result analysts dismissed the figures (that showed service sector activity at the lowest since April 2009) as a seasonal anomaly due to winter weather. The UK is still in a very strong position moving forward especially against the euro \u2013 a fact demonstrated by the fact that sterling jumped 0.85% to \u00801.1899\/\u00a31 despite the day\u2019s negative data as investors would rather hold sterling than euros. Out today, there is no real\u00a0UK\u00a0data released, so call in now for a live exchange rate \u2013 especially as there seems to be a steady exodus from holding the euro.<\/p>\n
In the euro zone, the problems persisted for the single currency, with the euro falling by 1% to a 5 week low of $1.3013\/\u00801 against the US dollar following Wednesday\u2019s better than expected US employment figures. The euro did see a brief boost following reports that\u00a0China\u00a0was looking to buy around \u00806bn of Spanish government debt, however the currency did not react at all to news that economic sentiment in the region jumped in December. There is a wide range of European data released today along with some important\u00a0US\u00a0figures, so make sure you protect yourself from any volatility by speaking to a member of the team sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n
In the\u00a0USA, the US dollar continued to benefit from Wednesday\u2019s ADP non-farm payroll figures that showed nearly 200,000 more jobs were added to the economy than was expected last month. Today we see the Bureau of Labor Statistics \u2018official\u2019 non-farm payroll reading, so numbers either side of the 140,000 new jobs that are expected by analysts will see some movement. However, any dollar gains are likely to be limited by the fact that the Fed feels current economic conditions do not warrant a scaling back of the $600bn quantitative easing package in place.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the Brazilian real slumped yesterday after the central bank imposed reserve restrictions on banks\u2019 foreign exchange positions in a bid to weaken the currency and keep Brazilian exports competitive.<\/p>\n
EURO\/GBP – <\/span>1.1885
US$\/GBP<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 1.5434
CHF\/GBP<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 1.4895
CAN$\/GBP<\/span><\/strong> – 1.5422
AUS$\/GBP<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 1.5566
ZAR\/GBP<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 10.506
JPY\/GBP<\/span><\/strong> <\/span><\/span>\u2013\u00a0129.00
HKD\/GBP<\/span><\/strong> \u2013\u00a012.002
NZD\/GBP<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 2.038
SEK\/GBP<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 10.596
US$\/EURO<\/span><\/strong> – 1.2981 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n