Forex Weekly Round Up 1/2/16 – 5/2/16

The Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) was released on Monday morning and came out better that expected at the figure of 52.9, a three month high, increasing from the previous figure of 52.1 and beating the expected figure of 51.8 showing growth within the UK manufacturing sector.

The UK construction sector slowed in January to its weakest level for nine months. With the Markit construction PMI falling to 55 from 57.8. Economists had forecast for a reading of 57.5. The construction PMI release was in contrast to a stronger-than-expected start for the manufacturing sector published on Monday.

The Bank of England (BoE) kept interest rates and their asset purchase program on hold at 0.5% and £375bn on Thursday lunchtime, but the voting moved to a unanimous 9-0-0 in favour of inertia, with Ian Mcafferty relinquishing his position as the Monetary Policy Committee’s solitary hawk. In the press conference, BoE governor Carney reiterated the likelihood that the next move in rates will be up. This was covered in the statement, but questioned over recent probabilities of a possible cut Governor Carney affirmed this and was encouragement enough for a GBP rally in Thursday’s trade.

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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 1.4551
GBP/EUR 1.2995
USD/EUR 0.8931