Pound Sterling to Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) Exchange Rate – ‘Aussie’ higher as UK mortgage data below forecast

Australia’s biggest trading partner and the world’s second largest economy China posted its Final Manufacturing PMI report for January which came in below economist forecasts and showed that the nation’s major manufacturing sector contracted to a six-month low.

According to the HSBC compiled PMI, manufacturing activity fell to 49.5 from the previous month’s figure of 50.5. The final figure was lower than the 49.6 announced last week. The figure marked the first time the figure has dropped below the 50 mark since last July. The data did little to ease concerns in the world’s emerging markets.

The ‘Aussie’ also came under sustained pressure from the US Federal Reserve’s decision to taper its monthly bond buying programme by $10 billion to $65 billion. The cut is the second seen in two consecutive policy meetings and suggest that the Central Bank will stick to its policy of introducing a gradual withdrawal.

Data out of Australia also didn’t help the currency as quarter on quarter export and import prices were shown to have come in well below economist expectations.

The Pound meanwhile weakened as investors embarked on a bout of profit taking before the release of data which showed that the number of new mortgage approvals in the UK came in below economist predictions.
Economists had been calling for new approvals to hit 72.9k in December; instead they increased by 71.6k. Despite the data disappointing investors the figure was the highest seen in six years and rounded off the housing markets best year since before the start of the global financial crisis.

Current Australian Dollar Exchange (AUD) Rates

[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Australian Dollar,,US Dollar,0.8743 ,
Australian Dollar,,British Pound,0.5311 ,
Australian Dollar,,Euro,0.6426 ,
Australian Dollar,,New Zealand Dollar,1.0733 ,
[/table]