Euro to Pound (EUR/GBP) Exchange Rate firms as Eurozone current account surplus grows

The Euro edged away from Thursday’s lows to trade in a mixed range on Friday as investor attention focuses on events between the West and Russia over the situation in Ukraine.

One piece of data that was released on Friday did provide support for the Euro. According to a report released by the European Central Bank the regions current account surplus grew to €25.3 billion in the first month of 2014. The report added Latvia to the figures for the first time since the nation’s ascension to the Eurozone.

On a yearly basis the current account surplus was at €227.9 billion, higher than the €135.4 billion seen in the previous year.

Further Euro gains were limited by a report which showed that the UK government’s financial situation improved last month. According to the Office for National Statistics the government has borrowed 4.3% less cash this financial year than in the previous one suggesting that Chancellor George Osborne will meet his borrowing forecast.

With a lack of further economic data releases from the UK and Eurozone attention focused on Brussels where European Union leaders had gathered to discuss the bloc’s response to the Russian annexing of the Crimea.

Today saw the EU sign an agreement with the interim Ukrainian government for closer relations, a move that is sure to annoy Moscow. The signing of the deal comes just hours after the EU announced the use of more targeted sanctions against key Russian figures and a bank.

In Russia meanwhile, the nation’s upper house of parliament unanimously approved a treaty that will see Crimea become a part of the Russian Federation.