The Pound hit a two-month high against the US Dollar earlier in Tuesday’s session as uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s plans to begin reducing its monetary easing programme continue to dominate market sentiment.
Early in Tuesday’s session the GBP/USD currency pair climbed to 1.5680, its highest level since June 18th. The pairing then softened slightly to trade within the 1.5676 level.
The pair is likely to see volatility on Wednesday as investors prepare for the release of the minutes for the Federal Reserve’s July policy meeting. The markets will be looking for further indications as to whether the Central Bank may begin tapering its $85 billion-a-month stimulus programme.
Expectations that the Reserve may begin tapering as soon as September were boosted after last week’s data releases showed that U.S. weekly jobless claims fell to an almost six year low. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has said that the decision to start tapering will depend on whether economic data is strong enough. In recent weeks economic data has come in largely positive increasing speculation that a cut is imminent.
The Pound continues to find support from last week’s better-than-expected retail sales and jobless claims data. It received further support on Monday after the Confederation of British Industry increased its growth forecasts for the UK economy.
Against the Euro the Pound softened after the single currency showed little reaction to data which showed that German producer price inflation dipped in July from the previous month.
Current Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates:
The Pound Sterling/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.5666 >
The Pound Sterling/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.1697
The Pound Sterling/New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.9602 >
The US Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6382
The Australian Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.5784 <
The New Zealand Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.5100 <
(As of 11:00 am GMT)
Comments are closed.