Forex Weekly Round Up 25/1/16 – 29/1/16

In a speech Mark Carney, Bank of England governor, said, he focused on global risks that could rattle momentum and restrain inflation, prompting many economists to forecast no change in interest rates for at least another year. Carney’s downbeat commentary on falling oil prices and China’s slowdown as well as Britain’s referendum on EU membership suggests that the BoE will not be raising rates any time soon.

The Nationwide HPI (House Price Index) showed that house prices in the UK rose 0.3% this month compared with 0.8% the month before. Nationwide’s Chief Economist commented that; ‘As we look ahead, the risks are skewed towards a modest acceleration in house price growth, at least at the national level and that the labour market appears to have significant forward momentum.’

The Pound gained across the board on Thursday after the GDP figure showed the UK economy grew by 0.5% in the three months to the end of December, taking the annual rate of growth for 2015 to 2.2%. The final quarters growth for 2015 bettered the previous GDP figure of 0.4%, showing the economy is still performing despite global macroeconomic conditions.

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Here are the exchange rates taken at 12:25 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 1.4295
GBP/EUR 1.3092
USD/EUR 0.9159