Pound Gains as UK Consumer Confidence Improves

Pound , Gains , as UK Consumer , Confidence , Improves

The Great Britain pound jumped today after the report showed the improvement of the UK consumers’ confidence, encouraging analysts to talk about a possible increase of the lending rates by the nation’s central bank.

The Nationwide report about Britain’s consumer confidence showed that the confidence index increased from 39 in February to 44 in March. That’s compared to the median forecast of 40. The report said that the consumers’ “assessments of their present situation remain subdued”.

Bets show that investors expect the Bank of England to increase its key interest rate by 25 basis points from 0.5 percent. The yield on the 10-year bonds dropped two basis points to 3.69 percent. Britain’s sterling performed not very well this year, rising so far only 0.3 percent according to the Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes, which measure 10 most-traded currencies.

GBP/USD rose from 1.6267 to 1.6347, while EUR/GBP dropped from 0.8876 to 0.8860 today as of 21:43 GMT. GBP/JPY traded at 136.51 after it opened at 136.35 and fell as low as 135.27.

If you want to comment on the Great Britain pound’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below

 

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Euro Gains Even Amid Debt Crisis

Euro  ,Gains ,Even ,Amid ,Debt ,Crisis

 The euro posted the unexpectedly strong gains today despite speculations about possible default of Greece and spreading of the 

sovereign-debt crisis continue to plague markets.

The reason for such surprising performance was anticipation of another interest rates hike by the European Central Bank. ECB governing council member Nout Wellink said that the recent increase of the interest rates was an ”extremely important” signal for investors that shows higher inflation shouldn’t be counted on.

John McCarthy, director of currency trading at ING Groep NV, said:

The prospect of an ECB rate hike is in the forefront of people’s minds. For the time being, the euro is receiving a boost from the prospect of higher rates.

The idea of raising borrowing costs in the European Union when some of the member nations are on the brink of default looks brave, to say the least, but traders think that such move is possible and that’s driving markets today.

EUR/USD advanced from 1.4233 to 1.4337 today as of 19:46 GMT. EUR/JPY rose from 117.65 to 118.25, following the slump to the intraday low of 117.08, and EUR/CHF went from 1.2755 up to 1.2898.

If you want to comment on the euro’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.

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