Pound Sterling (GBP) performed mainly positively on Wednesday as UK unemployment data added to the weight of the economic recovery story being played out. Sterling saw significant upside versus the Euro (EUR) and the US Dollar (USD) exchange rates with mixed performance being seen elsewhere.
Yesterday's exchange rates saw the Pound Australian Dollar exchange rate close at 1.78999 GBP/AUD, Pound Canadian Dollar exchange rate close at 1.82504 GBP/CAD, Pound Swiss Franc exchange rate close at 1.51054 GBP/CHF, Pound Euro exchange rate close at 1.24046 GBP/EUR, Pound New Zealand Dollar exchange rate close at 1.95110 GBP/NZD, Pound Turkish Lira exchange rate close at 3.54954 GBP/TRY, Pound US Dollar exchange rate close at 1.67913 GBP/USD, and the Pound South African Rand exchange rate close at 18.04186 GBP/ZAR.
The Euro (EUR) retracted (again) versus the British Pound as the UK employment picture improved. Analysts’ had forecast an increase in employment of 270,000, whereas 345,000 jobs were added across a 3 month period ending April 2014. The Unemployment rate officially dropped to 6.6% down from 6.8%, beating analysts’ forecasts of 6.7%. The data increase demand for Sterling and saw many trades funded by sells of the Euro. Consequently the Euro slid against most of its counter parties. Tomorrow’s direction is likely to be determined in large part by the French data releases due tomorrow with regard to Consumer Price Inflation (CPI).
The US Dollar (USD) dropped against the Pound on the back of the strong UK employment data. A number of third tier data releases came out of the US at 14:30 (UK time) which did little to boost the fortunes of the Dollar. The Dollar continues to perform poorly against Sterling since no data showing conclusively that the US economy is in recovery mood is being released into the market and traders remain wary of over committing to the green back during this period.
Notable Pound Sterling / Euro / Dollar Exchange Rates Today - Updated 13/06/2014
The Pound Sterling to Australian Dollar exchange rate is trading up +0.16% at 1.80246 GBP/AUD.
The Pound Sterling to Canadian Dollar exchange rate is trading up +0.09% at 1.84244 GBP/CAD.
The Pound Sterling to Swiss Franc exchange rate is trading down -0.05% at 1.52244 GBP/CHF.
The Pound Sterling to Euro exchange rate is trading down -0.04% at 1.25072 GBP/EUR.
The Pound Sterling to Hong Kong Dollar exchange rate is trading up +0.11% at 13.15673 GBP/HKD.
The Pound Sterling to New Zealand Dollar exchange rate is trading up +0.15% at 1.95730 GBP/NZD.
The Pound Sterling to Turkish Lira exchange rate is trading up +0.17% at 3.58925 GBP/TRY.
The Pound Sterling to US Dollar exchange rate is trading up +0.11% at 1.69730 GBP/USD.
The Pound Sterling to South African Rand exchange rate is trading up +0.22% at 18.18245 GBP/ZAR.