Welcome to the new improved and slimline version of our regular monthly currency report. If you keep an eye on your currency converter on a regular basis you may already be aware of how the last month fared in the markets. But we’ve got the latest news for you right here as well, so let’s get started right now.
The US dollar finished January on 0.6204 against the British pound, and it had a good month against the Euro too, finishing on 0.7160 there. The final rate against the Hong Kong dollar was 7.7667 after an increase of 0.0124, but it lost some ground against the Japanese yen by finishing on 90.326.
Let’s see what happened next.
An overview of the currency markets during February
The dollar was bagging 0.6288 against the pound on the first day of the month, and it was really a steady performance from the US dollar all month long. It broke through to 0.6305 on the 4th and then had a few jumps upwards before levelling out for a while.
But the power was definitely on the side of the dollar. By the time the month got into its last week the dollar was up to 0.6530, and the pound was on a slide downwards that it seemed powerless to stop. The final rate for the month was 0.6578, leaving us wondering whether the pound had anything to fight back with. Perhaps the US dollar will have a tougher time next month – or maybe it will end up struggling to compete as the pound fights back.
Day one of February saw the dollar claiming 0.7187 against the Euro. And the story here would turn out to be quite similar to the one against the pound as well. It was not a tale of constant increases but having said that it was all going in the direction of the dollar, broadly speaking.
By the 5th of the month the US dollar was up to 0.7304, and although it didn’t exclusively retain that territory for the whole of the month ahead, it did do well enough to make that a significant turning point. The final exchange rate for the month here was 0.7369, making it another good performance by the US dollar.
Next we’ll move on to Hong Kong to see whether the US dollar could repeat its performance there. The initial rate it achieved was 7.7672, but while it finished that first week on 7.7711 things weren’t as straightforward here as we may have expected or hoped for. On the 16th of the month the US dollar achieved 7.7706, but that would be the last 7.77 exchange rate it would see for this month.
As time went on the power seemed to go towards the Hong Kong dollar and indeed it pushed the US dollar further back so that it eventually finished on 7.7624. All in all then the Hong Kong dollar had come out on top for the month, putting in a stronger second half to achieve that result.
Finally let’s see how the US dollar did against the Japanese yen. The opening rate for the dollar here was 90.275 at the end of day one, but that week finished lower on 89.467. All was well the following week though as the yen staggered slightly and left the US dollar on 90.134 instead.
This was a month of definite ups and downs though, because the US dollar would later achieve a rate of 91.848. There was no telling where this rocky path would lead next, and indeed the US dollar was heading towards a worse finish than it had hoped for. The final rate at the end of this four week month was 89.108 – giving us reason to look forward to the possibility that March would be better.
Meanwhile, over in Europe…
Let’s move over to Europe now to see what was happening there. The closing rate for the British pound against the Euro on day one was 1.1430. But even though the pound achieved a mid-month high of 1.1526 it was a long way from turning into a successful month. There were events still to come which meant that the pound had a tough time ahead of it.
Indeed just a few short days later the pound was on its back foot, going out with an exchange rate of 1.1385. The last part of the month turned out to be a rough time as well, with the pound finally ending on 1.1201. And given the news stories surrounding the pound and the ailing British Government at the moment, we can expect things to get worse before they get better.
Elsewhere last month…
It’s always good to see what is happening between the Aussie dollar and the New Zealand dollar, and February certainly lived up to this. The Aussie dollar was the one in charge this time, climbing steadily throughout the month and not really giving the New Zealand dollar a chance to get ahead at all.
The closing rate on day one was 1.2556, and that climbed to 1.2827 by the end of the month – proving which currency was in the driving seat.
Looking forward
So we have come to the end of our new shortened report. But one thing is certain – it has not left us bereft of currency news to bring you. We can still see the biggest and most notable results across the board for the month of February. And as always it is evident that some currencies are struggling more than others.
The British pound has had a rough time lately but the US dollar seems to be in fighting form. It may not succeed against every currency but it has the strength to fight back even when it is in a tough situation.
So we will be back once again next month to reveal what you can expect to find as we take a fresh look at which currencies are doing better than others on the world stage.