GBP/USD
Posted on April 21st, 2008 in Currency Analysis, RTT News |
British Pound Eases From 17-day High Against Dollar [GBP/USD]
4/21/2008 4:54:22 AM Monday morning, the British pound declined against its major counterparts. The sterling strengthened to a 17-day high against the dollar before losing ground at about 9:40 pm ET Sunday.
UK banking system received a lending boost from the central bank today. The Bank of England, or BoE launched the much-hyped GBP50 billion Special Liquidity Scheme to allow banks to swap temporarily their high quality mortgage-backed and other securities for UK Treasury Bills.
According to Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, “The Bank of England`s Special Liquidity Scheme is designed to improve the liquidity position of the banking system and raise confidence in financial markets while ensuring that the risk of losses on the loans they have made remains with the banks.”
A report from Rightmove released today stated that U.K. housing prices have fallen yet again in the month of April. The report says that prices fell by 0.1% from March.
The pound fell to 206.02 against the Japanese currency by about 3:55 am ET Monday, compared to 208.16 hit during early Asian deals. The sterling-yen pair closed last week`s deals at 207.23.
Japan`s Ministry of Finance downwardly revised its regional economic assessment for the first time in more than six years. The Ministry added that economic conditions worsened in five of the eleven regions across Japan during January to March period.
Activity in Japan`s service sector declined a seasonally adjusted 1.7 % in February compared to the previous month, a report from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed today. The tertiary activity index for February registered 108.4, compared to a reading of 110.3 for January.
Against the dollar, the British currency strengthened to a 17-day high of 2.0028 before reversing direction at about 9:40 pm ET Sunday. Currently, the pound is trading at 1.9896 against the dollar, compared to 1.9974 hit late Friday in New York
The pound that closed last week`s deals at 2.0349 against the franc declined to 2.0111 at about 2.0102 at about 4:05 am ET Monday.
Data released by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office showed that the nation`s annual inflation, based on the index of producer and import prices, unexpectedly accelerated in March. The overall index of producer and import prices rose 3.9% year-on-year in March. Economists had expected the rate to ease to 3.5% from 3.6% recorded in February. On a monthly basis, the producer and import price index increased 0.6% to reach 109.9 points.
Against the euro, the sterling lost ground after hitting a high of 0.7901 at about 9:50 pm ET Sunday. The pound that closed last week`s deals at 0.7878 against the euro is now worth 0.7979.
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