Slow Start To The Week

With little data out over the week it was always going to be sentiment led trading and Monday didnt disappoint.

After the gains made by sterling towards the end of last week it wasn’t a surprise to see the pound being sold off as traders took profits and markets corrected themselves. As European markets opened the sell off started and the pound lost ¾ of a cent against the single currency and posted losses against all its major pairings. This only halted against the euro as Greece posted its industrial production results which showed a large dip to -3.8 percent from 2.5 percent last month (so over 5 percent drop). This just led to underline the fact Greece is at the forefront of investors’ minds as the release generally is fairly low key usually.

The euro weakened nearly a cent to some of the best levels we have seen recently for buyers with sterling or dollars although it was short lived. Once the US markets opened they seem to have a different air of sentiment and the euro gained back some of its losses. Across the rest of the major currencies sterling bottomed out having lost ground all day and traded flat. With some movement, GBP/USD traded in a half cent range all day and GBP/EUR within a cent.

Today we have industrial and manufacturing production for the UK at 9.30am and NIESR GDP estimate later at 3pm. Thats pretty much it apart from a scattering of low key US releases concerning jobs data, business and economic optimism. So, apart from the UK data we could well be sentiment led again today and going on yesterdays performance, the pound could lose further ground. To avoid missing out, contact one of the Currency Index team today for some friendly guidance on your upcoming transfer.