Forex Weekly Round Up 21/3/16 – 24/3/16

This week, British manufacturing output suffered its biggest decline since 2009 in Q1 of 2016, but output is expected to pick up over the coming three months. The Confederation of British Industry’s monthly survey showed manufacturing output fell to -15 in the three months to March.

Wednesday marked the three-month countdown to the UK’s June referendum on its membership of the European Union. With the fear of Brexit, there is increased pressure on the pound. On Tuesday we saw the pound lose more than 1% when it was driven to one-week lows, as terrorist attacks in Brussels sparked speculation that Britain’s would be compelled to leave the EU.

For the British Pound in particular, the news out of Belgium, regarding the attacks represents a new piece of evidence for the ‘vote to leave’ camp in the upcoming EU referendum on June 23. Over the coming days politicians will try to capitalize on the populist anti-immigration sentiment by endorsing ‘the leave’ campaign, this could mean further weakness in the pound.

Some businesses and individuals may benefit from a forward contract to hedge against adverse movements. Please contact us for your free, no obligation FX comparison.

Here are the exchange rates taken at 12:20 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 1.4141
GBP/EUR 1.2672
USD/EUR 0.8962