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British Pound Hits 5-day High Against US Dollar [GBP/USD]
4/28/2008 6:39:09 AM The British pound reversed the losses it incurred against the yen and the dollar in early deals on Monday. The pound hit a 5-day high against the dollar at 6:00 am ET. Against its European and Swiss counterparts, the pound showed mild strength during this time period.

Against the US dollar, the pound strengthened to a 5-day high of 1.9913 by about 6:00 am ET Monday, after falling to 1.9785 by about 3:10 am ET. The pair closed Friday`s deals at 1.9853.

The UK`s sterling equaled a 4-day high of 207.98 yen at about 6:10 am ET, Monday, moving up from an early low of 206.81. And against the euro, the sterling climbed to 0.7881, from 0.7909 by about 6:00 am ET. The pound-yen pair and euro-pound pairs were worth 207.40 and 0.7864 respectively at Friday`s North American close.

According to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, overall retail sales in Japan posted a 1.1 percent increase in March on a yearly basis and this marked the eighth straight month of gain.

The government said that sales at large-scale retailers, including department and supermarket store sales, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% on year.

In early deals on Monday, the pound weakened to 2.0443 against the franc at about 4:05 am ET. Thereafter, the pound gained ground and is now trading near 2.1533 francs, compared to Friday`s closing value of 2.0571.

Swiss National Bank`s board member Thomas Jordan said the outlook for Switzerland economy remains good and the central bank`s three-month Libor rate range of 2.25 % to 3.25 % remains appropriate under current market condition.

Results of a house prices survey by Hometrack, showed a 0.6% monthly decline in U.K. house prices in April. Prices declined in each of the past seven months, and the April reading marked a steeper pace of decline the 0.2% fall recorded in March. Meanwhile, house prices slid 0.9% year-over-year, marking the first decline in more than two years. Copyright © 2007 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved.