{"id":621,"date":"2011-01-24T10:44:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-24T10:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/?p=621"},"modified":"2011-01-24T10:45:25","modified_gmt":"2011-01-24T10:45:25","slug":"smart-currency-exchange-sterling-finishes-stronger-than-usd-24012011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/smart-currency-exchange-sterling-finishes-stronger-than-usd-24012011\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart Currency Exchange: Sterling finishes stronger than USD [24\/01\/2011]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sterling\u00a0finished slightly stronger against the US dollar on Friday after following the euro higher against the\u00a0US\u00a0currency. It was a volatile week for sterling after much higher than expected interest rates heightened expectations for a sooner than anticipated hike in\u00a0UK\u00a0interest rates. This saw sterling hit a high of $1.6060\/\u00a31, however a poor set of fundamental figures \u2013 including a 0.8% drop in retail sales for December on Friday \u2013 saw the sheen taken off analyst\u2019s expectations for an interest rate rise. Retail sales were expected to fall as a result of December\u2019s inclement weather, but not by as much as they did. It is a very important week for sterling, with preliminary GDP for the 4th<\/sup> Quarter of last year and the minutes from the most recent Bank of England meeting. The minutes will be very closely watched for any sign of a change in monetary policy so call in now for a live exchange rate.<\/p>\n

In the euro zone, the euro hit a 2 month high against the US dollar \u2013 breaking above the $1.36\/\u00801 level \u2013 as market anxiety over the euro zone debt crisis started to ease. Strong debt auctions fromPortugal\u00a0and\u00a0Spain\u00a0and warnings over higher inflation in the region have helped to reduce panic over a systemic collapse. However, Sunday\u2019s events in\u00a0Ireland\u00a0could yet test this. Ireland\u2019s Green party withdrew from the coalition government to end a weekend that saw Prime Minister Brian Cowen step down from his party\u2019s leadership but stay on until key budget legislation is passed that was a key requirement of the recent EU bailout. The move by the greens paves the way for a March 11 election \u2013 we shall have to see how this pans out for the euro this week.<\/p>\n

In the\u00a0USA, it was a good week for data with the claimant count dropping and new home sales jumping unexpectedly. Fundamental figures have been improving, but the Federal Reserve is not expected to make any changes to current monetary policy. The Fed meets this week, and is expected to continue with its plan to buy $600bn of debt through until mid-2011. Aside from that, there is a wide array of data released this week so ensure you don\u2019t lose out and speak to a trader now.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the\u00a0USA\u00a0has seen some progress from\u00a0China\u00a0to allow the value of its currency to appreciate.\u00a0China\u00a0has come under pressure as the Chinese reminbi has been kept artificially low against the US dollar, giving Chinese exporters an unfair advantage. Apparently Chinese Premier Hu Jintao offered no new concessions on currency on his visit to the\u00a0USA\u00a0last week.<\/p>\n

EURO\/GBP – <\/strong>1.1741 <\/strong><\/span>
US$\/GBP<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 1.5951
CHF\/GBP<\/strong> \u2013 1.5332
CAN$\/GBP<\/strong> – 1.5865
AUS$\/GBP<\/strong> \u2013 1.6103
ZAR\/GBP<\/strong> \u2013 11.2750
JPY\/GBP<\/strong> <\/span>\u2013\u00a0132.20
HKD\/GBP<\/strong> \u2013\u00a012.4377
NZD\/GBP<\/strong> \u2013 2.1062
SEK\/GBP<\/strong> \u2013 10.5263
US$\/EURO<\/strong> – 1.3583<\/span><\/p>\n

To request a up-to-the minute quotation, fill out our quote form: http:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/apply\/smart-currency-exchange<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sterling\u00a0finished slightly stronger against the US dollar on Friday after following the euro higher against the\u00a0US\u00a0currency. It was a volatile week for sterling after much higher than expected interest rates heightened expectations for a sooner than anticipated hike in\u00a0UK\u00a0interest rates. This saw sterling hit a high of $1.6060\/\u00a31, however a poor set of fundamental figures \u2013 including a 0.8% drop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,21],"tags":[33],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":627,"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions\/627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}