Forex Weekly Round Up 29/2/16 – 4/3/16

On Monday, we saw the pound strengthen against all major currencies. British mortgage approvals hit a two-year high in January and consumer credit expanded at the fastest pace in a decade. Mortgage approvals for house purchases numbered 74,581 in January from 71,335 in December.

In less optimistic news, the UK manufacturing sector is getting closer to contraction: a score of 50.8 points the worst in three years, reflects very slow growth, much worse than the expected slide from 52.9 to 52.2.

Over in Europe, Spanish unemployment continues to rise with figures showing that an extra 2,231 people registered with the Public Employment Services in February after forecasts predicted only a rise of 200.

Early on Thursday morning Sterling fell against the dollar and euro after the Services PMI index fell to its lowest in three years to 52.7 from 55.6 in February. With UK services a dominant force in the UK economy there are concerns that overall GDP in the first quarter of 2016 could weaken to just 0.3% – the lowest level since late 2012.

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Here are the exchange rates taken at 13:04 today. Please note that all conversions are based on interbank rates without any spreads and should be used only as a guide. For live ‘spot’ and ‘forward’ prices please feel free to drop us a line.

GBP/USD 1.4155
GBP/EUR 1.2903
USD/EUR 0.9115