The Pound Sterling to Norwegian Krone (GBP/NOK) exchange rate fell in Thursday’s European session while the Pound Sterling to Swedish Krona (GBP/SEK) and Pound Sterling to Thai Baht (GBP/THB) exchange rates recorded gains.
The Pound Sterling to Norwegian Krone (GBP/NOK) exchange rate recorded losses on Thursday when the price of oil jumped on account of geopolitical tensions between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Rebels known as ‘Houthis’ stretched their advance into Yemen and Saudi Arabia and its allies conducted airstrikes over the nation, causing crude oil prices to increase dramatically.
The prospect of disruption to oil output amid the conflict allowed the price of crude to rebound, thereby supporting oil exporting countries and boosting currencies such as the Russian Ruble (RUB), Canadian Dollar (CAD) and Norwegian Krone (NOK).
Oil Prices Rise Offering NOK Exchange Rate Support
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) advanced by a healthy 6.6%, a welcome development since the price of crude has dropped by around 60% since July.
However, offsetting some of the Norwegian Krone’s gains was the surprise increase in Norway’s Unemployment Rate in January. The nation recorded a rise from 3.7% to 3.9% when economists had forecast a decline to 3.6%. In the same time period of 2015, unemployment had resided at 3.5%.
Meanwhile, the Swedish trade surplus widened in February from a positively revised 3.3B to 4.6B, despite forecasts to decline to 1.7B.
Household Lending Growth also hit 6.2% in February from 6.1% in January—the highest level since 2011.
Additionally, Sweden’s Producer Price Index jumped from 0.2% to 1.9% on the year in February.
The Swedish Krona managed to hit a three-week high against the US Dollar (SEK/USD) while still softening against the Pound (SEK/GBP) and the Euro (SEK/EUR).
Meanwhile, Thailand’s trade balance leapt from -$0.46B in January to +$0.39B in February; economists had forecast a slight increase to -$0.3B.
Exports noted a massive -6.14% decline in February after January’s -3.46% contraction; economists had predicted another similar figure.
Imports recorded 1.47% growth when forecasts suggested a -1.0% contraction would take place following January’s -13.3% dip.
Pound Sterling Exchange Rate Forecast: GBP/NOK, GBP/SEK, GBP/THB
The Pound Sterling exchange rate could be in for hefty fluctuations on Friday with a host of Bank of England (BoE) officials due to speak, including Governor Mark Carney. Any discussions on the topic of interest rates could influence the GBP/THB, GBP/NOK and GBP/SEK exchange rates significantly.
The Pound Sterling to Norwegian Krone (GBP/NOK) exchange rate is residing at 11.6531. The Pound Sterling to Swedish Krona (GBP/SEK) exchange rate is trading at 12.6700. The Pound Sterling to Thai Baht (GBP/THB) exchange rate is trending in the region of 48.6020.
