Good morning and welcome to today’s foreign exchange market commentary on Tuesday the 15th of November.
The developments in Europe remain a serious cause for concern. Despite former European Commissioner Mario Monti taking over the reigns of Italy, markets remain far from convinced about the nation’s repayment capacity. Yield on five-year bonds zoomed to 6.29 per cent at yesterday’s auction in Rome, a Eurozone record. Italy, which managed to raise €3 billion yesterday, would require another €46 billion in debt before the end of 2011.
More bad news is expected as Spain is looking vulnerable with traders betting it will join Italy soon in bailout territory. Bond yields breached the 6 per cent barrier for the first time in three months. The country will auction 10-year bonds worth €4 billion on Thursday.
Meanwhile Angela Markel refused to back ‘eurobonds’ to solve the ongoing crisis and said she would rather opt for amendments of European treaties that imposes sanctions on financially lax countries. She backed the early adoption of a financial transaction tax, with or without Britain’s support.
CURRENCY RATES OVERVIEW
GBP/EURO – 1.1701
GBP/US$ – 1.5906
GBP/CHF – 1.4539
GBP/CAN$ – 1.6221
GBP/AUS$ – 1.5661
GBP/ZAR – 12.7918
GBP/JPY – 122.49
GBP/HKD – 12.3798
GBP/NZD – 2.0521
GBP/SEK – 10.6811
If your currency pairing is not listed above and you want to make a currency transfer, check out our comparison tables at www.mycurrencytransfer.com for the best foreign exchange rates.
EURO: Euro slipped against the greenback yesterday amid continued panic of an impending recession. Between August and September, industrial production in the Eurozone dropped by 2 per cent, the biggest monthly fall in 24 months, said Eurostat. The EUR/USD pair retreated yesterday after touching a high of 1.3800 briefly. The pair opens at 1.3540 today morning while the GBP/EUR pair slowly pushed up to 1.1705 today.
USD: The GBP/USD pair slumped to 1.5880 yesterday despite respected economist Mario Monti taking over as Italy’s Prime Minister as risk sentiment turned negative. It opened at 1.5905 this morning, as market eagerly awaits UK inflation data. US retail sales and PPI data is also expected today.
